Thomas Pokemon Adventures
by LucarioMaster41
Summary: Thomas Oliver Gungsten is a 15-year-old teen who lost his family to a wild Pokémon stampede in his hometown of Kilyla City. Because of this, he has had a tremendous fear of Pokémon for years. But one fateful day, he meets a Buizel and Poochyena in trouble and saves them, earning their love. After some events, he is sent into the Pokémon world of Mystery Dungeon with Team Believers.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story doesn't belong to me it belongs to MrAwesomeMatty on . He gave me permission to post the rest of his story. I hope you enjoy.**

Aw, geez, I usually am not any good at telling stories, especially ones about myself. … What the heck? I love a good challenge nowadays.

You know something? I know crazy things happen in the world of Pokémon, but I never thought anything would be anything like my life.

Wait, no… Dang it! I already failed at my story. I didn't even tell you my name… Aw, well, might as well retry and get started. Sorry if I sound uninterested or lazy, I get nervous when I tell my personal story. I really am a nice, caring, and "sweet" guy, according to some elderly women that told me. Uhh…

Okay, my name is Thomas Oliver Gungsten. Well… Actually, my REAL name is Oliver Thomas Gungsten. However, because I really hate the name Oliver and my parents… um… aren't here anymore, I decided to change the order and become Thomas instead.

I lived in a "famous" city, or so I am told, called Kilyla City. It's a little island near the Sinnoh Region. You may never have heard of it, which makes me completely wonder (and laugh) why it's a "famous" place. The reason is it is actually a tiny island on the borders of the Sinnoh and Hoenn regions. So, because of that I guess, that is why my home was not on any national maps, only certain specific ones, I guess. Don't ask me how; I'm already struggling to tell my adventure as it is.

Anyway, Kilyla City is (again I laugh) "famous" for something special, and awesome, at least to me. The city is known for being a birth and ending place for many Pokémon trainers, masters, and breeders. Don't know what I mean? I mean that some people begin their journey as a trainer or such from this place, while others come here at the end of their travels and make residence here. Now, I am not laughing at the wonderful events that take place here, I'm laughing because we are famous yet nobody has yet to see a national map of us on it.

Despite that, this is where I met the closest people to me here, and where my massive story begins…

-

I got up that day, same old, same old. Tuesday, I think it was, somewhere in April. It was pretty late in the morning, about 9:38 Am. I really do not have to worry about "School", if all of you are asking about that. I didn't go to school. Actually, it's the Pokémon School, but I did not go there. It's where you learn all about them, how to be a caring and effective trainer, and get experience in meeting them. However, I really didn't care about Pokémon at the time; in fact, I was scared of them because of… a certain reason. You see, there was… an incident a long time ago where a horde of Pokémon charged through the city because of natural disasters, and some people didn't survive. My parents were… Um… Okay, let's get, uh, back to the story. Yeah, um, I will tell you how it ties in.

Anyways, I did not go the Pokémon School, because of the incident. However, I am pretty sure that I was the only teenager in my year who didn't attend there. Oh, by the way, I'm 15 years old. Dang it; a horrible place to squeeze that into the story… So, anyway, instead of going to "school", I would go around town for walks, talk with friends of mine, and sometimes hangout with students during lunch break at the school building. Despite me being alone, I was pretty popular because my parents were outstanding Pokémon trainers and had won all of the league championships before marrying each other.

So, I just woke up, feeling okay. I knew my daily schedule; Get up, go talk to Old Man Fellows for several hours, swing by the school to eat with my friends at lunch, and then head home to write in my daily journal about today's events, and play video games until it was time to go to bed. So, time to get up. I quickly ran down and made a good old PB&J sandwich, then ran back up after eating to change from my black pajamas. I quickly zipped into my green short-sleeve hoodie that had a yellow-tinted flame design from the waist up, electric yellow shorts, and black and orange "Zip Shoes" or whatever they called them. As I readied myself to leave, I rolled my eyes and snapped my fingers.

"Oh my word," I groaned, "How could I have forgotten that?"

I quickly hurried over to my green backpack next to my bed. I made sure that everything was there; a few potions, my packed lunch, a couple of Oran berries, my favorite white and orange striped comfy blanket, and my journal and pack of pens. Hey, it may sound weird to have THOSE types of things, but you never know if and when you need them. Before I zipped it close, I brought something out of the front pouch; my blue Pokémon headband.

I know; when you wear a headband, you usually have people stare at you for wearing an uncommon item of clothing. However, my family has worn headbands for a long time; not for huge generations, but a few. I respect that and since my favorite color is blue, I wear a blue headband. I wrapped it around my forehead and tied it in the back as my brown spiky bangs fell over it. A lot of people say it makes my blue eyes flare; I don't know how.

I quickly hurried outside my house and locked the door. Just a simple white house that I got from my parents… uh, anyway, I quickly rushed through the city on my way to Old Man Fellows. As skyscrapers and corporation buildings past me, I ran politely past people to get to my destination. However, because of my fear of Pokémon at the time, whenever I saw one, I slowed down, walked around it, and then hurried again off on my way.

I am not going to bother describing the city for you, as it was so huge, I actually never visited all the parts of Kilyla City. Just picture a big city, and you'll do fine. Despite the city being peacefully and relatively nice, a lot of the adults gave me cold glares and talked behind my back. The reason is, like I said before, my parents were amazing Pokémon trainers, so a lot of people were expecting me to follow in their footsteps. However, ever since… that day, I had become afraid of Pokémon and did not want to become a trainer.

People would say, "It's okay, you should do this," or "At least try this out."

Some people are even rotten enough to say, "Just grow up and get over it. It makes you stronger."

Every day, someone somewhere would say, "Thomas should do this, Thomas should do that."

I really get angry when they say that.

I just retaliate with, "Listen, Thomas is me. Let me be me. I'll handle myself and be happy with my life."

One of the only people who ever accepted me choosing my own life than my parents was Old Man Fellows. Not only had he been a personal friend with my parents, but he understood if I had problems or was hurting. He was fairly old, but I doubt that 67 years makes you an old man, does it?

-

I finally arrived at his house when I came to a halt. I had knocked on the door and waited when the door opened and there he was. He still had his black smooth hair, but it was thinning out more and more every day. He always wore his favorite brown and white stripe shirt with black khakis. I swear he had several pairs because he loved them so much. He also wore black flip-flops and had a necklace in the form of a Pikachu. He smiled as I put my hand on my head and rubbed my hair.

"Good morning, Old Man," I said closing my eyes, "I hope you're having a good day this morning."

"Thanks to you stopping by, I am," he chuckled back, "It felt like ages since your last visit. Come in, come in! Have a seat, Thomas; there is so much to talk with you about."

Fellows would make us glasses of apple juice as I took off my shoes and sat on my knees at his low table. He would then set the glasses down and sit next to me as we talked and talked about different things, but today felt different.

We had finished laughing about one of the times my dad as a teenager had failed training his Pokémon to use the move, Extreme Speed, and it actually hit him directly in the chest!

"Your father just sat up, and looked around like he didn't know what happened," Fellows laughed, "He even asked me, 'Fellows, what in the world just happened?' His Manectric tried so hard not to laugh, but it and your mother kept their heads down so he wouldn't see them giggling!"

I couldn't stop laughing when he reminded me when Dad did the exact thing when I was 7 years old, and we were both there watching him.

I said barely without laughing, "Dad threatened to ground me if I didn't stop laughing!"

Fellows said with a smile, "Remember when Manectric stood in front of you so your father couldn't see you laugh?"

"That only made me laugh more!" I couldn't stop laughing, "Manectric would look at me, and we would both start in! We couldn't stop!"

Fellows gave a good laugh, and then sighed with a smile.

We both quieted down as he said, "Aw, your father… and your mother, and even Manectric. They were such a wonderful bunch. They just do not make people or Pokémon like them anymore. It's just… so terrible that they-"

"Old man," I cut him off, "Please, don't. I hate talking about that…"

"Thomas," he turned to me and said in a gentle voice, "You know as well as I do. All three of them went to evacuate as many people as they could out of the city. You and I both know that when the disaster hit its peak and wild Pokémon charged into the city out of nowhere, there was no way they..."

He stopped in his tracks finishing that sentence; I am guessing he saw me pull my legs close to me and form into a ball, getting all depressed over bringing up that issue. It's true; when the wild Pokémon charged through the city, my parents and Manectric couldn't get out in time…

"And I know," he finally picked up, "what is it like to lose someone precious to you. I lost my darling Flash to that horrible incident too…"

Flash was Old Man Fellows' Pikachu. Manectric and I used to play with it when my parents visited him. Sadly, Flash was also one of the many who didn't survive the incident. That is why the old man wears a Pikachu necklace, in remembrance of Flash.

"And," he continued on, "That is why you are afraid of Pokémon. But, Thomas, you may never know; you may one day have yet to fall in love with one of those amazing creatures. I am not forcing you to become like the trainers, I hope you know. I just want you to think about it."

"Old man," I said, but I just stopped; I couldn't think of anything else to say.

I just did not think I could ever make a friend with a Pokémon after what happened. However, I wanted to honor my parents somehow with them. I just couldn't figure it out.

"Hey now," I heard him say, "Don't be depressed, now. Just backburner what I said and let's keep on talking," as he took his juice and drank some.

I grinned and said, "You sure know how to make someone happy in a blink of an eye, Old Man. Thanks."

"Old Man?" he asked, pretending to be offended and making me laugh, "Old Man? I am not that old, am I? Oh, Boy, let me tell you some of my best adventures when I was younger and then we'll judge if I'm old or not."

So we continued to talk and talk about things and had a wonderful time. I just felt so happy when I was with him. I didn't know why at that time, but what he said took effect, like something would soon happen.

-


	2. Chapter 2

After a few hours, I was already heading from the old man's house to the School to hang out with a few of my friends. It was lunchtime, so the board allowed me to visit them outside. None of them had a Pokémon YET, so I felt more comfortable when I visited them.

My friends were easy to find for they stood out in a crowd to me. Tucker, the curly red-headed "fireball", wore only red clothing, usually a tank-top and shorts with black sneakers. He was always "on-fire", awaiting barely the ability to have fire Pokémon. Jocinda, wearing a blue skirt, pink sandals, and brown hair that formed into a ponytail, was sort of a daydreamer, always wanting to take to the skies. No wonder her love for flying-types was expected and came through from her. Lastly, Kaname, bulging in a huge tan hooded-coat that covered his black spiky hair, black pants, dark shade-goggles, and brown sneakers, was always the slacker; always complaining, never does anything about it, the laziest kid in the School, but we loved hanging out with him. His strategies and high intellect made him perfect for psychic Pokémon.

Anyway, we sat in our normal spot and as I took my packed lunch out of my backpack and they started eating theirs, I just listened as they continued on about what they had learned and how close they had become to becoming a good trainer.

"I'm so fired up!" Tucker yelled, "I cannot wait to get my hands on a Pokéball and go and catch some hot Pokémon!"

"Whoa, there, hotshot," I said as I motioned him to simmer down, "You'll get your chance to get your Pokémon soon enough. Just hang on, and do your best."

"I just can't," he said grinning from ear to ear. "I just have to have a chance to travel the world and train my team's flare and show our stuff!"

I sort of envied him and the others at the time; I wish I had the love of Pokémon they did back then. I was such a coward and I couldn't even get near one without freaking out in my mind.

"I am sure you will do just fine," Jocinda said in her motherly voice, "I am sure you will soar to new heights as a great trainer."

"I know I will," Tucker turned to her as he ate some of his sandwich, "but I need to get out of here in order to do that. I just can't sit still and let them hold me back when I'm raring to go, Jocinda!"

Suddenly, we heard a huge sigh from Kaname. We turned to him as he rubbed his neck and looked at us with tired eyes.

"Tired?" I asked, awaiting the obvious answer.

"Uhh, I am so tired. Why do I come here?" he groaned.

"I don't know. Why do you?" I asked him. "You want to be a Pokémon trainer, right? So, shouldn't you want to be here learning?"

I don't know if he gave me a glare through his non-see-through goggles, but he let his head drop and he groaned, "Whatever, what a pain…"

Tucker slammed his hands on the table as he leaned forward and yelled, "Hey, what do you mean 'what a pain'!? You want to become strong with Pokémon, you come here!"

Jocinda looked at both of them as she closed her eyes, sensing tension, "Guys, please. Thomas is here to hang out with us. So don't fight, okay? Please, let's talk about something else."

Before we could though, we heard a snobby voice from behind us say, "My, my. Oliver Gungsten, what a surprise seeing you here."

My right eye twitched as I heard that voice. It belonged to someone I REALLY DON'T LIKE. We all turned around and saw none other than the infamous Mr. Pepperridge standing behind us. The man looked like something out of a comedy story. I mean, he always wore a nice, clean brown suit with brown shoes and a blue tie. However, his face was absolutely SCARY. His eyes were just black dots like a pencil mark, his skin looked like he put on make-up, he had the curliest mustache I had ever seen, and his brown hair had to been "perfectly and neatly" combed. And on top of that, he was a living, walking, breathing stick-figure. I'm serious! I had more fat on one of my arms than he did on his entire body! But, that's not why I disliked him.

You see, Mr. Pepperridge, despite his amazing knowledge of Pokémon and strength in battles, he was a snobby rich man who thought that the poor shouldn't have the ability to befriend Pokémon. He also would make sure that he was the number one trainer whenever someone bragged or thought they did good. But, worst of all, was that he HATED me. The reasons why were numerous, I swore. He had a rivalry with my dad when they were kids and my dad won the majority of their contests. I guess he hated our family when he had a crush on my mom, but was devastated when she told him she was marrying my dad. And, also because of my parents, he wanted me to come to the Pokémon School and be a student. That's right; he was one of the many adults who hated me for following my own choices and wanted me to become something I felt I wasn't ready for. To make my life a living hell, I didn't know, but it felt like it.

My eye kept twitching as I closed both of them and with a sarcastic smile and all my might said nicely, "Mr. Pepperridge, I believe I have told you many times now, my name is Thomas, not Oliver."

He laughed that cynical and snobby laugh and said, "Oh, my, that's right, it seems I have forgotten again, haven't I?"

"Yeah, I'm so sure of that…" I thought.

He put his hands on his hips and said, "So, Thomas, what are you doing here? Why are you at SCHOOL, I wonder?"

I gritted my teeth under my lips; I HATED it when he stressed out the word 'school' when talking to me.

"He's having lunch with us," Jocinda said, putting her hand on mine, calming me down, "He always does. It's nice to have him around."

"Ah, very well," he said, twirling his mustache. He turned to the others and said, "So, tell me everyone, how are all of your studies going? Are all of you having fun?"

They all responded in their unique way. I knew what he was doing; trying to make me jealous of my friends and want to come here! I couldn't stand him!

My friends could also sense my discontent. Kaname said, "We really enjoy our studies, true enough, but we love spending time with Thomas."

"Oh, really?" he said with a polite squeal. "Do you wish he was here more often? Maybe if-"

"Mr. Pepperridge," I interrupted, folding my hands and closing my eyes, "I thank you for believing I have talent for Pokémon and I respect you more than a lot of people here, but you and I have the same conversation every single day I come here." I turned around to his appalled face, opened my eyes, and said calmly, "No, I am not here to become a student; No, I am not thinking about becoming a student in the near-time future; and, no, I do not think you are ugly!"

"Pfft!" Tucker covered his mouth and turned away, so Mr. Pepperridge couldn't see him. Jocinda jabbed him hard in the ribs with her elbow, telling him to knock it off.

Jocinda was like the mother hen of the group; if you were risking your neck in trouble, she would quickly give you a nudge, signaling you to calm down and take it easy. She saved our butts multiple times by doing that.

"Oh!" Mr. Pepperridge fumed at me, putting his hands on his head, "Such insolence! I… I just cannot stand your intolerable behavior! The nerve of you! You have so much talent, yet you refuse to share it with the world! Ugh! Why can't you understand that I want you to succeed and become the best you can be!?"

"Then, if you really want the best for me," I said in a more louder tone, "You will respect my choices of who I am and wait patiently WHEN and IF I am ready to experience the world of Pokémon!"

I loved how I annunciated the words when I spoke to him; I know, terrible. Mr. Pepperridge looked like he was going to attack me, but then Kaname cleared his throat and got all of our attention.

"I agree," he said, "Look, you may have been able to convince me to come here, sir… but what both Thomas and I need is time and our own pace to determine our motivation, skills, and hearts. You can't rush success to your liking. It takes time to become the best."

That's Kaname for you; totally lazy and unmotivational, but when it comes to sticking up for your friends, he'll do anything.

Mr. Pepperridge calmed down, and quickly pulled out his comb.

He made sure his hair was neatly combed and replied nicely, "You are right, Kaname. I am sorry, everyone, especially you, Thomas, for losing my temper and yelling at you."

He looked at me with a smile and said, "Thomas, whenever you are ready, the Pokémon School is ready to accept you with open arms! Have a pleasant day, everyone."

With that, he walked away as my friends looked at me. I put my head on the table and covered my face.

"I hate it when he picks on me," I sighed hurt.

"That jerk is freaking unbelievable!" Tucker yelled, "I swear, if he went to a famous china shop in a fancy place like Evergrande City or someplace, he'd buy every single freaking set in the whole dumb place!"

Despite the hatefulness in Tucker's rude comment, he's right. When Mr. Pepperridge finds exceptional talent or value in you, he'll stop at nothing to bring it out of you and let it shine; even if it means bugging you everytime you try to visit your friends. I mean, he already had a hard time convincing Kaname to come here, but I have yet to see him convince me to come here or arouse Kaname's motivation.

"Aw, forget about him," Jocinda said with a smile that comforted me, "Relax. We can talk about something else if you want and-"

"But you know," we all heard Tucker say as he picked up his apple, "He is right about one thing; you have incredible skill for Pokémon, Thomas!"

"Tucker, do not get brainwashed by 'Mr. Snobby'," Jocinda warned as she wrapped up her garbage.

"Hey!" Tucker snapped at her with a glare, "I'm not forcing him, but you have to admit it. I mean, don't you remember when they asked Thomas just to do a practice battle? He took on not one, not two, but three of the School's best trainers. Three! And he beat them all!"

Kaname said after picking up his milk bottle and drinking some, "He's right, Thomas. You've got skill, but it's up to you how you live your life."

I grabbed my chip bag and snarfed a few down in disgust. However, it soon turned to contemplation, the same feeling I had earlier with Old Man Fellows. Did I really have good talent? I wasn't so sure anymore…

"What a pain," Kaname groaned as I looked at him, "Lunch is over…"

Indeed, the bell then rang and all the students started heading into the building. My cue to leave.

Kaname groaned, but then smiled, "Hey Thomas, I have a gift for you before you go."

I turned to him surprisingly as he handed me a red book.

"It's a Pokémon handbook, you know, so you can know specific Pokémon and what they like, what type they are, etc… Who knows, Thomas, you may need it," he said.

"Thanks, Kaname," I said taking the book and putting it into by backpack, "You guys have a good rest of the day."

Kaname nodded, "We'll see you later, Thomas."

Jocinda hugged me as she said, "Take care, my friend. Don't let disappointed people get you down."

Tucker laughed as he closed his eyes and said, "Hey, when I get out of here, I want a match with you, Thomas, you hear?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes as I said, "Take care, hotshot."

He replied, "In a while, master-man."

We hit our fists together as I grabbed my backpack. We all said good-bye, and departed as they went back to school and I to my house.

-

It was relatively getting to the point of 'sunset' when I had reached my house. I breathed a huge relaxing sigh; what a big day today had been. But, something just stuck; what Old Man Fellows and my friends had told me; I have talent and maybe one day I'd become friends with Pokémon. I thought about it as I pulled my key out of my pocket and began to reach towards the doorknob.

"Go to the beach…"

My eyes suddenly opened wide; who said that? I suddenly felt chills up my spine and through my every nerve. I looked around me frantically and tried to find who in the world just talked to me. I thought it was someone like Tucker pulling a prank on me, but the voice was something I had never heard before. I thought about what happened, but then gasped when I realized it: the voice came from inside my head!

I thought about what it just said, "Go to the beach…"

But, why would I want to go to the beach? And, at this time of the day? It was way too cold to go swimming at this time of the day. Besides, my friends wouldn't come; they'd be too tired. I tried to shake this feeling off and just go inside. However, as I kept on thinking about it, my heart felt like I at least needed to check out the beach. Just in case, I decided I should go. I put my key back in my pocket and started on my way to the beach.

The beach wasn't far away from my house than it was for the rest of the city. You see, I was lucky, along with a couple other people, for our houses were right next to a small alcove near the beach. You can reach the beach from the alcove by climbing some huge rock and grass hills to get to the main section. My house was lucky, because I get the alcove all to myself sometimes. All you have to do is cut through the woods behind the houses and you instantly arrive at the alcove of the beach. For the rest of the city, you have to go through massive traffic in order to even get remotely close to the parking lot of that place. So, in my case, lucky.

I passed a few trees and jumped a few rocks in order to finally arrive at my destination. The alcove of the beach, in all of its shining glory. The waves rolled as I felt the wind against my face and through my hair. It definitely was starting to become high tide. I just seemed to lose myself in the peacefulness of the ocean. I swore I could've fallen asleep standing up.

But then, I thought to myself, "Okay, so why am I here? What I am supposed to-"

All of a sudden, I heard a cry; a Pokémon cry. In fact, I heard two of them! I looked over to my left and saw two Pokémon right close to me!

-


	3. Chapter 3

"Holy!" I said under my breath as I freaked.

What was I going to do? Luckily, there was a huge rock I could hide behind, so I quickly did a (and I have a feeling I am going to hate this, but I am going to say it) "barrel roll" behind it and quickly peered behind it to investigate further and get a closer look.

The two Pokémon were trapped under a huge pile of rocks, like it had fallen on top of them. They were pinned to the sand and couldn't seem to move or budge the rocks off. All I saw were their heads showing. Both were covered in scars and bruises. They were struggling very hard to get out as the tide was starting to become closer and closer.

"What kind of Pokémon are those?" I wondered, looking at them.

I quickly remembered the book Kaname gave me and rustled through my backpack. I grabbed the handbook and flipped through the pages to**find** what kind of Pokémon they were. I looked at the first one; it seemed to be a grayish-black puppy. Its eyes had yellow scleras and red irises. Its nose is also red and two of its fangs poked out of its lower jaw. I looked through the book and found the name of the Pokémon: Poochyena, a Dark-type. Now, the other one. It was sort of an orange and tan otter of some sort. It had black eyes, white scleras, and black marks that looked like whiskers on its face, but it was markings. It also had a yellow collar that looked like an inner tube around its neck. I looked it up; it was Buizel, a Water-type.

All of a sudden, I noticed the water was very **close** to their faces. Buizel closed its eyes as it struggled harder and harder. Poochyena struggled too, but it seemed to be more frightened and was shaking. It seemed like Buizel said something to it; I couldn't understand Pokélanguage; heck, does any human truly understand it?

However, I looked around quickly and it didn't seem like a trainer owned them. They must have been wild Pokémon.

Was this what that strange voice in my head was trying to tell me about? Am I supposed to help them? But, I was terrified of Pokémon… How was I going to help them if I can't even let myself get near them?

All of sudden, the waves got so close; it splashed them in the faces. Both coughed, but Poochyena howled in despair and helplessness, it gave me chills throughout my body. Buizel looked at it out of desperation and shouted something. Poochyena didn't seem to **listen**; it started to shiver uncontrollably. I didn't know what to do until I saw it; tears **streaming** down both of their faces. They began to **start** crying as Buizel rubbed its face against Poochyena, trying to make it feel better.

That was it.

"I am not going to let two defenseless Pokémon drown because of my fear. I have to move now!" I thought.

I did something I never thought I'd do; I started to get up and walk over to them.

As I grabbed my backpack and approached closer, the two immediately noticed me. At first, I thought they were going to attack me with a projectile or some sort; but when I got over there, they did not attack me. However, I could tell that they were afraid of me. They both were shivering and had closed their eyes, whimpering. I couldn't believe it; they were scared of me! In my case, it was the other way around!

"Hang on, you two," I said as I crouched down in front of them, "I'm gonna get you out of here!"

I knew I had to get them out of there, but my body wouldn't stop shaking the whole entire time. Nevertheless, I knew what I had to do. I quickly grabbed the rocks and began pulling them and throwing them in the ocean. I kept on doing this, grabbing each rock and tossing it… until I realized something; they were staring at me.

When I looked down, both of them were looking right at my eyes. Their eyes were sparkling, like as if they were touched or about to cry.

Then, Buizel asked, "Bui?" at me.

Poochyena replied with a, "Chy?" as it looked at Buizel first, and then at me.

I didn't know what they meant, but I was terrified. Sweat was literally running down my face. Part of me got so frightened; I wanted to run away right then and there…

No! I wasn't going to leave them behind to die!

"Suck it in, Thomas. Their lives are depending on you. Stay calm; ignore them for now. You can do this," I thought.

The waves were touching my knees and their little chins as I had finally reached enough rocks to the point where I could see their torsos. I quickly began to reach my hands into the area where they were trapped. When I felt their fur, all three of us shivered; all of us were startled that I was touching them. Still, I had to get them out. I carefully, with all my might, pushed their hind ends out. I did it; they were free.

I don't know what came over me at the time, but instead of letting them run themselves, I scooped them up in my arms; Poochyena was in my left and Buizel in my right. The water had splashed near my feet, showing that they could've drowned right there if I didn't help when I did. I was noting that when I felt something; they were still shivering. I looked at them; they had their eyes closed, whimpering helplessly, and hiding their faces against my chest, like they thought I was going to hurt them.

I became so frightened when I felt their faces on my chest that I wanted to drop them and run. However, I was responsible for them right now; I had to show them I wasn't scared so they wouldn't be.

I smiled and said gently in a whispering voice, "Hey, now, it's okay. Nobody's going to hurt you. You're okay. I'm here."

Buizel and Poochyena looked at me with wide eyes; I could tell they were surprised. Heck, I was surprised! How did I become so fatherly over something just by helping two Pokémon I didn't even know?

I walked over to a soft patch of grass and set them down gently. Once I did and crouched down in front of them, Poochyena immediately cuddled against Buizel and whimpered something to it. Buizel said something to it and hugged it, but all I heard was, "Bui bu bui. Bui bui bui." They both looked at me and saw my backpack. They started to become frightened again. I instantly knew what they thought.

"Oh, no, no, no," I assured them, "It's okay. My name is Thomas. I'm not a Pokémon trainer. I don't have any Pokéballs. Even if I was or I did, I wouldn't take advantage of you."

I unzipped it and I grabbed a potion bottle. Both of them looked at each other and then back at me.

"Do you guys know what a potion is?" I asked them.

They both shook their heads as Poochyena moved closer to sniff the bottle. I became really nervous, but unknown to me at the time, both of them could tell I was.

"U-um," I stammered, "I-it's a spray bottle that helps injured Pokémon. It helps heal your wounds and scars." I set the bottle down and continued, "I'll leave it, uh, here for you to-"

Suddenly, Buizel had grabbed the bottle and pulled the cover off. Before I knew it, it had grabbed my wrist and simply sighed, "Bui," at me.

"You… want me to use the potion on you?" I asked them, "You guys really trust me?"

Both of them sort of smiled at me and nodded. They lay down on the grass and awaited me to apply the potion.

"Oh, uh… Okay," I stammered as I applied to spray bottle to their scratches.

I used my hand to gently rub in the rest, but I trembled everytime I moved it. It chilled my body that I actually was feeling their warm fur and bodies with my bare hands. Both of them saw me, but I tried not to show them.

Once I had applied a good amount, I left the bottle with them.

"Now, if you get hurt again," I said, "you can use this bottle to heal yourself. Go on, you can have it."

They looked surprised at each other. Buizel finally seemed to have the courage to grab the bottle and take it back with them.

"Also," I said getting their attention, "I'll give you these things too."

Both of them took a few baby steps closer to me when I reached into my backpack and grabbed some of the Oran berries. I know they're for Pokémon, but I have always liked them too. So, I keep a couple just in case.

"Here's a couple Oran berries for you. Not only will they fill your bellies, but they'll also make you feel better like a potion if you're hurt. Here you go," I smiled as I handed them the berries.

They both were still amazed I hadn't hurt them at all as Buizel took the berries. It looked at Poochyena and started to open its mouth, slowly smiling. Poochyena grinned as his tail started to wag.

"And," I said, catching their attention again as I pulled the blanket out, "here is a special gift for you. When I was young, my mom made this for me. She said when you really love someone and you share the blanket with them, it is much more comfy than normal. I'm sure that both of you will like it."

As I held it out for them, both of their eyes were as wide as they could be; they seemed to be in a trance. They probably couldn't imagine me giving them one of my favorite things in the world to complete strangers. They looked at each other and smiled, chuckling.

"Wow," I thought, "I must have made them very happy or something. They looked so touched."

Suddenly, they both looked at me; their eyes were sparkling at me as they just kept gazing at me. Then they did something that made me so afraid; they started walking towards me and began snuggling me!

I was so terrified that I began shaking. However, it didn't seem they noticed. They just closed their eyes and snuggled their heads against my chest. It scared me at the time, but later I noticed that they had stopped shivering.

I had to say something, to make them feel good and prevent them from knowing I was terrified, so I said, "Th-there, there… U-um, it's okay, uh… You're fine. Everything is all right know."

I could tell they were very happy. Poochyena was wagging his tail and Buizel just kept staring at me. They looked at me funny, but still smiling. I think they were expecting me to hug them, but at the time, I was so terrified of even getting near a Pokémon. I nodded and smiled, as they got off me and snuggled into the blanket around each other. They really liked it; their smiles and sighing really gave that away.

"So, are you two going to be okay now?" I asked.

Buizel stood up and gave me a thumb up.

"Bui bui," it said, smiling.

"Okay, then I am gonna go now. You two take care of yourselves. Good-bye," I said as I zipped my backpack, and carried with me as I walked away.

Buizel and Poochyena waved good-bye as I continued back through the woods. As I was leaving, I could hear them talking happily to each other. I chuckled to myself. It felt so good to have helped people; I always get that warm feeling in my chest when I have helped someone. I smiled as I continued on my way home. They should be fine.

-

Well, my clock showed it was 10:36 pm as I was lying in bed in my pajamas. My backpack was across the floor near the door of my bedroom. I was holding my journal and thinking about today's events. I didn't even follow my schedule; I was supposed to play video games, but I didn't touch the console at all. I was too busy thinking.

First, what Old Man Fellows had said, "You may have yet to find yourself fall in love with one of those amazing creatures."

Indeed, it was. Well, maybe not 'love'. But, I had obviously had my mind on Buizel and Poochyena. Are they warm in that blanket? Were they going to be safe from danger? Why… did they look at me that way?

Then, there was my friends and the Pokémon handbook. How in the world was it a coincidence that Kaname giving me the handbook would help me know what kind of Pokémon I met on the beach? It didn't add up.

But, the strangest, the soft voice in my head telling me to go to the beach. If I hadn't gone there, Buizel and Poochyena could've died. I never would have gotten to meet them. Who was it that even said that, anyways?

Somehow these things fell into a perfect order, but I couldn't figure out what it was at the time. I was tired of writing in my journal, so I signed the date and then put it back in my backpack. I walked back to my bed and looked out the window before turning off the lights and going to sleep. I rested my head in my hands and just wondered about them. Buizel and Poochyena looked so happy back there when I was nice to them. It made me happy. I hoped they were all right.

I pondered, "Maybe, I'll get up early tomorrow and just check up on them… Yeah! I'll do that. Tomorrow, I'll go make sure they're okay."

So, I flipped off the lights and went to sleep. Little did I know that day would be the start of something massive in my life. 


	4. Chapter 4

Sunlight was the thing that woke me up today as I woke up to an extremely **bright light**. My window was above my head on the bed, so it just beamed right in my eyes. I groaned as I pulled the sheets over my face. I looked at the clock: 9:00 exactly. I wondered why I had gotten up so early; I might as well sleep in. I didn't have to **start** my day until over a half an hour…

Suddenly, I flew the covers off me. That was right! I was going to check on Buizel and Poochyena today!

I quickly threw on my usual outfit. After I tied my **headband**, I grabbed my backpack and grabbed the usual breakfast sandwich. I shoved it all in my mouth as I ran out the door, locked it, and ran to the beach as fast as I could.

-

I was panting for air as I landed on the soft sand of the alcove. I looked around and began to investigate the area as I gripped my backpack tight. I checked carefully around where I had come from and the ocean line I could see. I saw absolutely no sign of either of them.

Then, an idea popped into my head; the rock that I hid behind led to the area I first met them. I walked behind the rock and began looking. Soon after I scanned the area, there they were. Buizel and Poochyena were on the same grassy spot I had left them earlier. They were asleep, snuggling together, wrapped in the blanket I left. They were so cute. The potion was still there, but it looked like they had eaten all of the Oran berries I gave them.

I thought, "Ah, good. They're safe and okay. Well, time to head on back and start my **daily** **talk** with the old man."

But just as I began turning away to leave, Poochyena let out a huge yawn and snuggled Buizel. However, it slowly opened its eyes and looked out towards the beach: right where I was standing.

Suddenly, its eyes opened wide and gasped. Its tail wagged as it took its two front paws and placed them on Buizel.

"Poochy!" it yelled, trying to wake its friend up by shaking it.

Buizel's eyes squinted as it slowly got up and gave an annoyed look at Poochyena. It looked confused as its friend kept on looking at my direction and pouncing from its front paws. Finally, Buizel turned its head and saw me. Its eyes opened wider as both of them started smiling at me. They immediately stood up as Buizel waved to me.

"Bui bui!" it yelled, inviting me over.

I walked over with a smile on my face. I crouched in front of them as they stood on the blanket. Both were looking directly into my eyes and smiling, obviously very excited about me being back.

"Good morning, you two," I said in a soft and relaxing tone, "Did you guys have an awesome sleep last night?"

Both nodded as I said, "Good. I just wanted to come and check on you to make sure you are okay."

Buizel then turned to Poochyena and said, "Bui! Bu Bui Bu!"

Poochyena nodded as it grabbed the potion bottle with its mouth. Buizel wrapped the blanket and folded it. While it was doing that, Poochyena handed me the bottle.

"Are you… giving this back to me?" I asked surprised, "I gave it to you for your needs. Are you sure you don't need this?"

Poochyena nodded. I could tell, by the way, before I asked that; their scars were completely gone, like nothing ever happened. I asked, because I just wanted to confirm my suspicion.

"Okay," I said, as I took the potion from its mouth, unzipped my backpack, and put it back in.

As I turned back to them, Buizel was handing me the nice folded blanket.

"No, no, no," I said to them, "I gave you that blanket as a gift. It's yours now. I don't need it more than you do."

Buizel gasped as it looked at Poochyena. Both seemed surprised I didn't want my favorite blanket back. But, again, that was a guess at the time. I didn't really understand Pokémon at the time.

"Well, I am glad that you both are okay. I just wanted to check up on you two. I'm going to head out now," I said as I began to reach for my backpack.

Poochyena whimpered softly. I turned my head towards its direction as it ran past me. I turned my back to Buizel and my backpack as Poochyena started running and pouncing on the sand. It crouched low to the ground as its tail wagged violently. It smiled with playful eyes at me as I chuckled.

"I wish I could play with you," I said with a smile, "but I can't. I have a bunch of things to do. I'm already late to meet with someone."

I turned and reached for my backpack to see that Buizel was zipping it closed. It looked at me and grinned. It slowly picked the backpack and handed it to me.

"Aw, thank you," I said, praising Buizel.

For a reason, it seemed to really like that.

I flipped my backpack over my shoulder and said, "Okay, you two, you guys go on and find a safe spot to live in from now on, okay? Make sure you stay together and be good. Bye-bye."

I began walking to the woods. However, something didn't feel right. I kept on walking, but I could hear other footsteps on the beach.

Oh, no! Did someone come to the beach and was attempting to capture Buizel and Poochyena?

I quickly turned around to look. I scanned the area carefully, but found no humans anywhere. I looked down, and there was only Buizel and Poochyena. …Strange. They were the same distance away from me when I started walking. How were they not further away?

I shook it off and shrugged. Probably, it was nothing. I continued on my way. When I just got to the woods edge line, I heard the footsteps again. Then my brain finally figured it out. I turned around and my answer was correct. Buizel and Poochyena were following me.

I crouched down to their eye level again and asked, "Buizel, Poochyena, you two aren't honestly thinking about following me into the city, are you?"

Buizel smiled and folded its arms as Poochyena panted and its tail kept wagging back and forth. They both nodded as they walked closer to me.

No way was I going to let them follow me into the city! It was too dangerous. I wasn't a Pokémon trainer, so I couldn't put them in Pokéballs if things got dangerous. I had to tell them straight on. I sighed, and then closed my eyes.

I opened them and said, "Guys, I know you want to come with me, but you can't. The city is a very dangerous place. You guys could get lost in there, because it is so big. Plus, there are some people if they saw you, they would try to capture you. And since I am not a Pokémon trainer, I would have to step back by law and let them attack you. You guys can't come. For your own safety, please, just stay here."

Poochyena sat down, itched its ear with its hind leg, and then tilted its head as Buizel simply groaned and put its paws on its hips. They kept looking at me, expecting me to give in and let them come. Believe me, I wanted them to be happy, but I just couldn't risk people like Mr. Pepperridge or a traveling trainer I didn't know getting their hands on them.

"No, guys," I said in a firmer tone, "You need to get moving and find someplace to live."

I reached around their bodies until I felt their hind ends and then turned them around to face away from me.

"Go on, shoo," I said nicely as I pushed gently, forcing them from me.

They both skidded to a halt and walked a few steps, but then just turned right around and walked right back in front of me. Their faces showed they were annoyed and upset about not being able to come. They closed their eyes and shook their heads 'no' at me. Buizel folded its arms as Poochyena sat in a proud manner. Then, with a "Bui" and a "Chy", they raised their heads in a pouting manner, like children disobeying their parents.

I simply sighed and put my face into my hands. I let a huge groan out; I was starting to get frustrated and annoyed.

"This must be what is like to have children," I joked in my head as I quietly chuckled to myself.

I knew their reason for being upset, but they had to listen. I got close to their faces as they opened their eyes.

"Listen," I said in a gently manner, "I know you really want to come, and I understand your frustration. I really want you to think about this, though. I want you to stay here, because I care about you two."

They looked at me and tilted their heads in confusion.

"Yes, yes," I said, "I worry about you getting hurt. So, in order to stay safe, you have to stay in the woods. Okay? Do you understand me?"

Both of them looked at each other and then nodded reluctantly.

I asked, "Are you two angry at me?"

Both of them looked back at me and shook their heads. They slowly walked up to me and snuggled their heads against my chest like last time. I did not want to leave them hanging like I did when I just said 'it was all right', I had to comfort them. So, I put my hands on their backs and patted them. They sighed in happiness; I guessed they liked that.

"Okay, then," I said standing up and grabbing my backpack, "I'll see you guys off."

I watched them beginning to walk away from me away to the rock I mentioned earlier. They turned around and smiled at me. They waved and said 'good-bye' in their Pokélanguage. As I said good-bye and waved back, they walked behind it.

I smiled and took a deep breath. They would be fine. I instantly remembered Old Man Fellows as I looked up to the sky. I quickly turned around and hurried into the woods.

-

As I rushed past people in the city, I just couldn't get the feeling of Buizel and Poochyena's safety off my mind. I mean, they were okay, but I just felt like they would get into trouble if I wasn't around. What if someone hurt them? What if they called out for me and I couldn't hear them? The thought scared me as much as seeing them in the city. I didn't want them hurt. Then, I thought to myself: why did I get so worried about Pokémon in one day? Something was very weird and I couldn't figure out what was going on in my head or my heart.

Suddenly, a chill went up my spine. I felt like somebody was following me. I quickly stopped and looked behind me. I saw cars pass by, people waiting to cross the road, buildings, and other various things in the park I was near. The only thing odd about it was the people waiting to cross the street were staring at something I couldn't see near the walk/stop sign.

"Probably waiting for the sign to turn, I suppose," a thought said, going across my mind.

But, I didn't see anyone following me. I shrugged it off and went on my way.

Finally, I had reached Old Man Fellows' house and knocked on his door. Hopefully, he wasn't mad or hurt that I was late, I thought. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened and there was Fellows in his usually attire. He looked surprised, but had a smile on his face as I bowed my head in apology.

"Thomas," he said rather surprised, "I am shocked. You're late for the first time in three years for our daily chat."

"My apologies, Old Man," I said urgently, "There's something I had to check on. It was something 'personal', if you would."

"Hey, no harm, no foul," he said, "We can start a little late. But before we do, you should check your backpack."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I said, completely oblivious.

He folded his arms and replied, "Well, what do you think I mean? Don't you think you look pretty silly with a blanket hanging out of your bag?"

I started to say, "Did you say a blanket? What in the-"

Suddenly, I stopped and realized what he meant. I quickly took off my backpack and put it on the ground to take a look. It was the orange and white blanket I gave Buizel and Poochyena! Its end was hanging outside the zipper. I couldn't believe I didn't catch that. But, why was it in my backpack? How did it get there?

Suddenly, I remembered how Poochyena grabbed my attention away from Buizel and my backpack, wanting to play with me. Buizel must've put it in the backpack when I wasn't looking. That's why it was zipping it closed when I turned to grab it! But why would they do that?

Of course! They wanted me to come back and give it to them, so they could play with me!

I said softly to myself, "You gotta be kidding; they didn't…"

Suddenly, I realized I spoke out loud and quickly stopped in my tracks by covering my mouth. Too late; the old man heard me and became interested.

"'They'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "Who's 'they'?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing," I said, trying to avoid the conversation.

"My boy, you should know me by now," he replied, "When I want to know something, I don't stop until I find out. There's no such thing as just 'curiosity killed the cat' in my book. To me, it's 'curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back'. You might as well come clean."

I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh. BUSTED.

I stood up and said, "Well, it's not anything wrong or illegal, so don't get worried, but…"

So I let it all out, about the voice in my head, finding two Pokémon at the beach, cleaning them up, the handbook Kaname gave me, and so forth. However, I did NOT tell him the names of the two Pokémon. I made sure of that.

"So, I checked on them this morning. They gave me back the potion, but I told them to keep the blanket. Then I said good-bye, and watched them leave, although they really didn't want to. One of them distracted me from the backpack before I left, so the other one must've put it in there again, so I could come back and play with them," I finished looking at the blanket.

Old Man Fellows put his right hand to his mouth as he said, "Hmm… I see. Tell me, Thomas, about these Pokémon…"

I looked back at him as he looked left and right slowly, and then back at me, asking, "Were they a Buizel and a Poochyena?"

My eyes widened as I took a step back and gasped. I was shocked.

"Wha? How did you know? Did you follow me? Or do you know them?" I asked urgently.

He walked up to me and said, "Neither, but…"

He motioned me closer to him.

As I came close, he said in a voice that only us could hear, "Keep your voice down as I tell you this," giving a quick glance around and back to me, "There's a Buizel and a Poochyena that have been following you since you got here. They're hiding behind the garbage can that's right behind you."

My eyes widened as I said, "Are you pulling my leg? I watched them walk away into the woods."

"Oh, really?" he whispered, stepping back.

He said aloud, motioning me to stay quiet and play along, "Well, Thomas, I'll let you inside. But, first, I have to take care of my garbage. It'll only take a second."

He then began walking towards the garbage can. I turned around, completely confused as if to what he was doing. He began to reach down into the can, almost grabbing the bag inside of it. But, suddenly, he bent down behind it in a flash and reached his arms down like he was swooping to catch something.

"Gotcha!" he said.

Suddenly, I heard a "Bui!?" and a "Chy!?"

I was totally speechless when he stood up and walked towards me; he was holding Buizel and Poochyena around the ribs in his arms! Both of them looked around completely stunned and afraid, not even knowing what just happened.

"What the?" I said, trapped between the emotions of anger and fear, "What in the world are you two doing here?"

Both of them looked at me and nervously smiled. They closed their eyes as their tails started swishing happily.

"I watched you from my upstairs window, Thomas," Fellows said, "They were following you the moment you stepped into the city. They used your blanket to keep you in their sights the whole time. They planned this from the start, probably right as you came to check on them this morning."

"But, it couldn't be!" I protested, "Could it?"

"Well, I have three good reasons," he said, "to prove my case. One, I am holding them right here. That's physical evidence if I've ever seen it. Two, you said that Poochyena distracted you from your backpack and then you saw Buizel zipping it closed. You may not have seen or paid attention to it, but it slipped your blanket back, so they both could follow you without getting lost in the city. And lastly, you claimed they left in the woods. Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" I said, completely embarrassed, "I watched them walk off myself! I said good-bye and watched them leave!"

The old mad raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Well, where and how exactly did they leave?"

I stepped back and thought aloud, "Well, I said good-bye and so did they. They began walking behind a huge rock and then I began to go and-"

Suddenly, I stopped. I clenched my teeth shut behind my lips and looked up into the sky. I put my right hand on my forehead.

"They hid behind the rock and waited for me to leave, and then they followed me," I said, finally getting the picture.

"There you go," Fellows said, "Looks like these two little scoundrels are pretty smart and clever."

Buizel and Poochyena chuckled as both of them smiled.

I walked over to them and said in a disciplining manner, "Guys, it's not funny! I told you to stay in the woods, and you totally disobeyed me. You put yourselves into a huge dangerous situation. What if I wasn't there and you got hurt? Why would you do something like that?"

Buizel simply said, "Bu," and lowered its head in shame.

Poochyena lowered its ears and whimpered, "Chy," in a high and sad tone.

"Hey now," Fellows said, grabbing all of our attention, "no need to get angry at anyone. We're all friends, right, Thomas?"

"Old man?" I asked.

"Come now," he said, setting Buizel and Poochyena down, "let's all have a good time in my house, all right? It would be rude to force them to go back to the woods now, especially on their own. Let them enjoy a good chat with us. Juice is on me."

All four of us then entered his home as he shut the door behind us.

-


	5. Chapter 5

Buizel and Poochyena had **bowls** full of Pokéfood and apple juice, enjoying it on the floor as the old man and I sat at the table as usual.

"I never thought I would've seen it, Thomas," he said, smiling with such pride, "You in the presence of Pokémon; who'd of thought it? I just never believed it could happen."

"It's like you said, Old Man," I replied quietly, "I never knew when… Well, I'm not in '**love**' with them, but I-"

"I understand," he cut me off nicely, "So, do you think you are going to keep them?"

My eyes widened with a face of 'awakening', if you would think. Keeping them?

Wow, what a wake-up call. I did not even think that far.

"Old man, I don't even think that I could even go so far to capture them, especially after all they've been through," I said.

He took a sip of his juice and looked at me. "Oh, are you sure? I'm sure those two young boys would be perfect for you to take care of."

I'm sure I did a double-take there as I blinked. I was taken back.

"Did you say, 'boys', Old Man?" I asked, "How can you tell?"

He gave me a smile and asked, "Your friend gave you a Pokémon **handbook**, and you don't even know what gender those two are? My word, Thomas, what am I going to do with you?"

I chuckled as I rubbed my hair.

He turned to them and asked, "Buizel, Poochyena, can you two come here please? I need to show Thomas your gender."

Both nodded and walked over as fast as they could. Fellows crouched behind them and turned towards me.

"Okay," he said, "We'll begin with Poochyena. Poochyena, do you mind if I pick you up for a little bit?"

Poochyena shook its head as he lifted its front legs off the ground. He held it by gently placing his left hand on its chest. Its front paws rested on his left arm as he took his right hand and pointed to the area where the stomach joined with the rear legs.

"See this area?" he asked as I nodded, "To me, I found out if you look closely, some Poochyena had a **tiny bit** more extra fur around this spot. The ones that don't have this fur are female. This one does, so it's a male."

He set Poochyena back down and said, "Thank you, Poochyena."

It wagged its tail and smiled, as he went over to Buizel.

"Excuse me, Buizel," he said, as he turned Buizel, so its back was facing me. Buizel looked up at Fellows as it stood perfectly still.

"For a Buizel," he said, "all you have to do is look at the yellow ovals on its back. If it only has one, it is a female. But since this one had two ovals, it is a **male**."

He turned to Buizel and said, "Thank you too, Buizel."

It smiled as it folded its arms and nodded.

"So, there you have it," Fellows said to me, "These two are male, just like you. You three seem to get along just fine."

He stopped and seemed to stare at me passionately. I raised an eyebrow as to why he looked at me that way.

"It's just…" he began, "…I never… would've thought you would want anything to do with or know anything about Pokémon, Thomas…"

"Well…" I stopped as I looked down and smiled, and then nodded.

But when I looked up, Old Man Fellows was tearing up! Like, about to cry! I freaked out a little.

He continued, "I am just so proud of you, Thomas. You… I just… you have made me so happy…"

I felt so weird, so I had to ask him as I was slowly shaking my head, "Old Man, you're making me uncomfortable. What are you talking about? You've lost me somewhere; I don't get where you're at."

He wiped some tears and said to Buizel and Poochyena, "Can you two come here?" as he sat down in front of me.

They immediately walked over and sat next to us, making a circle.

He took a deep breath, and said, "Thomas, what I am going to say… I want you to think deeply about this and feel whatever it makes you feel."

I nodded as he said, "Have you noticed… that the entire time Buizel and Poochyena have been in the room, you haven't shivered out of fear?"

I stared dumbfounded at him; I just realized that. In fact, today I didn't walk around Pokémon in the city when I was running near them; I just ran right past them, without being afraid.

Old Man Fellows said, "Thomas, months ago, you couldn't stop shaking if a Pokémon was in the same room with you. Now, you're sitting like they're human or not even here."

I looked at both of them. They looked at me, wondering what he was talking about, but they sat silently staring at both me and the old man. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about this conversation.

"Well," I tried to start, "that's-"

"Thomas," he interrupted, "Did you also notice that you are speaking full complete sentences around Pokémon?"

I stopped and looked at the ground at my feet. I began to feel emotions rushing up to my chest. I started to breathe deeply, with difficulty.

I heard him add, "Thomas, when you were younger, you couldn't even complete a full sentence without an 'uh', or an 'um', or mispronouncing a word when you saw a Pokémon near you. Right now, you are talking in full sentences with them around."

Okay, now, I was totally uncomfortable. Feelings I had been trying to bury and shove down in the darkest depths on my heart were being brought up in one conversation. I felt like my chest was about to burst. I had enough. I wanted him to stop.

I started to say, "O-old Man, I… I-"

He interrupted me again, "Thomas, hold perfectly still. Buizel, Poochyena, can you come here, please?"

I looked up to see him pick both of them up and sit them down in front of me. Their furry feet touched my legs. I gasped when I felt their little feet gently rest on my bare skin. They looked at me in curiosity and then looked back up at the old man.

Fellows was tearing up again as he said with happiness, "Thomas, a year ago, you instantly started to cry if someone forced you to touch a Pokémon. You didn't flinch or try to get up when they touched you just now."

I started to breathe uncontrollably and heavily. I began to look anywhere, all over the place. I started to feel like I wanted to cry. I held my chest tightly with my right hand.

I heard a low whimper from Poochyena. I looked up and both of them were staring at me, wondering if I was okay. However, at the time, seeing them made me feel even more emotional.

"I… I want… I ne-" I said, trying to say something.

Finally, I got up like a bullet and began walking to the door.

"I need some fresh air," I said, my voice trembling.

The three of them turned to me leaving. I kept walking, not looking back to see them. I knew it was rude to just get up and walk out, but I had to.

Suddenly, I heard a compassionate, "Bui bui!" behind me.

Buizel and Poochyena immediately were getting up and trying to follow me.

"NO!" I said, holding my hand, signaling them to stop.

They both took a couple steps back in surprise, and then sat down on the floor, but looking in their eyes, I could tell they wanted so desperately to comfort me by giving me a hug. Poochyena whimpered softly, as if almost telling me to come back, but I couldn't. I just…

IT HURT SO MUCH...

"You guys need to stay with Old Man Fellows for now," I said as a single tear rolled down my left eye.

Buizel came over and began rubbing Poochyena's back, trying to comfort it, but it only made me feel worse. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, but my lips were open so they could see them. I exhaled loudly in a broken manner. I needed to get out.

"What should I do with these little guys?" I heard Old Man Fellows say with a worried and concerned face as I took a step outside.

"I don't know," I said impatiently wiping my eyes, which had filled with tears, "tell them a story or something."

With that, I closed the door and buried my face in my hands as I curled up into a ball right outside his residence, with tears streaming down my face.

-


	6. Chapter 6

I finally had tears stop forming in my eyes as I let out a huge sigh. It had been ten minutes since I had stopped crying, and five months since my last breakdown. I looked up at the clouds and watched as they just seemed to drift carelessly throughout the big blue.

"They look so free… so happy… just floating up there," I couldn't help but thinking.

What the old man had said, really hit me in the heart. All those past fears, all those things about Pokémon and me in the past, all of it just seemed to **crumble** away after I met those two. Did Poochyena and Buizel have a strong bond with me? Why couldn't I see it?

I shook my head and rubbed my face. I just didn't think I could be so attached to these two. How could one simple voice in my head lead me to make my **whole life** turn right-side up?

Suddenly, I brought my head up in realization of a noise. I looked to my right; Buizel had opened the door and was looking at me. It walked over with a face of concern as it looked at me carefully.

"Bui bu bu?" it asked me.

I nodded and replied, "Don't worry, Buizel. I just **needed** to get something out of my system. I'm okay now."

It turned with a smile to the inside of the room and yelled, "Bui! Bui, bu bui!"

Suddenly, Poochyena stuck its head out the door and walked next to Buizel.

It barked, "Poochy! Chy chy!" as it wagged its tail and panted.

Old Man Fellows came out and stood behind them.

He smiled as he looked down at them and said, "Thomas, I really am sorry for making you cry and feel uncomfortable. I understand if you are angry at me, but I just wanted you to understand what I meant."

"Old Man," I said gently, "I'm not angry, it's just… I've been trying to bury these feelings for 7 years… and they are getting shoved back in my face by you and these two bringing them back in only a couple days…"

I smiled softly at them. They both looked at me with **compassion** and understanding. I didn't understand why they glanced at me that way.

"I told them some stories while you were outside, Thomas," Fellows said, breaking the silence, "They are two imaginative and creative little critters, and they **love** having excitement at every turn."

Both grinned and chuckled, I could see their teeth. I looked at them with a smile.

"Did you guys hear some amazing stories? Were they good?" I asked as I grinned.

They kept grinning as they nodded and looked at me.

"Were they good 'fairy tales'?" I asked them.

They shook their heads 'no' as they closed their mouths, but still smiled.

"They were true stories?" My grin turned to a smile as I asked.

They nodded again.

Suddenly, I thought of a question that sort of made me wonder. I didn't know what the urge was, but I needed to ask.

I asked as my smile began to disappear, "Were they stories of me?"

Both of them nodded again.

I looked down at the ground and stared at my feet. I gulped as I looked back at them. My smile had completely disappeared.

"Did… did the old man tell you of the incident?" I asked.

I didn't want to hear the answer, but I knew I had to. I saw both Poochyena and Buizel nod again slowly as their smiles were gone.

I knew it. The old man told them about my past. I could tell by the looks on the two faces of Buizel and Poochyena during that conversation that they wanted to know what was wrong.

"If they are going to at least be your friends, Thomas," Fellows explained, "They needed to know why you are nervous around Pokémon still. Sooner or later, they would start thinking you didn't like them. Again, I apologize if you-"

"No sorry is needed, Old Man," I cut him off.

I started to stand up and brush myself off. Fellows walked inside for a second and grabbed my backpack. He started to come out after a while and gave to me as I faced him.

"Sooner or later, they would have had to be told about the incident," I said, glancing down at them.

I bent down and crouched in front of them. They both walked towards me and listened closely as I motioned them to listen.

I softly explained, "Now, you guys understand why I am nervous around Pokémon, even you. It's hard for me to open my feelings up, but I do not hate or dislike you."

Old Man Fellows said to me, "Thomas, what I am basically saying is… You, Buizel, and Poochyena… you three have a bond together… I can tell they just simply adore you."

I looked at them as they grinned and snuggled against my chest. Again, I felt really nervous and confused as what to do, but this was different. I was not scared. I saw them; they exhaled peacefully, as they closed their eyes and kept snuggling me. I smiled and patted their backs like I did this morning; again, they liked that.

"I don't know how you exactly touched their little hearts when you saved them… but look at them. You have just… captivated them," he started tearing up again as I just stared at them.

I completely dazed out and stared into nothing as I heard him say the following sentence, "Your father… your mother… and even Manectric… all three of them would be so proud of you."

"So proud of you"… I haven't heard that line in a long time. I wanted to cry again, but I bit my lip and turned that negative emotion into a positive one. I looked back down at both of them. Their eyes seemed to sparkle again as they smiled at me.

I said to the old man, "Yeah, I can see them now smiling at me…"

The old man grinned back at me. I could picture them now. I hoped they were watching me. I felt so proud to be with Pokémon.

Wait a minute… Pokémon… Pokémon Sc- Oh, no!

Then, I opened my eyes widened with realization. I stood up like a bullet, startling the three around me. I groaned as I ruffled my hair violently with my hands, almost pulling my headband off my forehead.

"I am supposed to meet Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname for lunch today!" I yelled, as I grunted, and then let out a huge exhale of air.

I then realized I had scared my three friends and chuckled.

I said with a sheepish smile, "Sorry for killing the emotional mood, everybody…"

Buizel folded its arms, and smiled at me with an unimpressed look as Poochyena closed its eyes and bowed its head, trying not to giggle.

"Well, then, I guess I'll see you off," Fellows said to me, calming down, even though I didn't glance at him.

"No, you don't get it," I groaned, "I'm meeting them in the yard of the Pokémon School! I can't bring two wild Pokémon into the school! What if Mr. Pepperridge or some other trainer sees them and tries to attack them? What if they want to battle me and won't take 'no' for an answer? It's too dangerous!"

I glanced down at the two little Pokémon, who looked like they were starting to worry.

I folded my arms, and then reconsidered aloud, "But, I can't just blow off my friends, either. I've always met with them at lunch. According to Tucker, that's sometimes the only thing that keeps them going at the school…"

I was trying to think of a solution, when the old man snapped his fingers and said, "I have an idea."

Count on the old man to think several steps ahead of me. I smiled as he approached me.

He pointed at my hoodie and asked, "Thomas, that sweatshirt is a zipper hoodie, right?"

I nodded in response.

He asked, "Do you have pockets near the zipper?"

I nodded again. There was two pockets right next to the end of the sweatshirt, so I could fit my hands into.

"Okay, final question," he asked, coming a little closer, "are you comfortable with Buizel and Poochyena being close to your body for a little while?"

I started to nod and slowly grin as I said, "Aw, I think I know what you're getting at, Old Man."

He grinned as I understood his thoughts.

First, I slipped my backpack on, so that was out of the way. I unzipped my hoodie and put my hands in the pockets.

"Okay, you two," Fellows said to Poochyena and Buizel, "I want you to snuggle against Thomas' chest. However, I want you to feel for his hands in his pockets with your feet and keep them there."

Both Pokémon nodded and slowly approached me, with Buizel on my right and Poochyena on my left. They snuggled up as close as they could. I felt really nervous again as Old Man Fellows zipped up my sweatshirt. When he stopped, the zipper only showed the heads of Buizel and Poochyena, barely poking out of the opening in my hoodie. I could feel their little feet in my palms, supporting them from falling; it was scary, but rather exciting.

"Keep them out of sight, when you get to the school. Then, when it's time to go, get them snuggled again in your hoodie, zip it up, and be on your way," he said with a smile.

I heard a loud peaceful sigh; I looked down and Poochyena had closed its eyes and adjusted its head perfectly against my chest.

"Poochy…" it sighed as it looked like it would go to sleep.

Buizel sweetly smiled at it, and then looked at me, making me smile at Poochyena.

"Just hang on, you two," I said, "I am going to have lunch with my friends, and then I'll take you back to the woods to find you a place to sleep."

Buizel nodded as it snuggled on me and closed its eyes; Poochyena let out a huge whine as it yawned real wide and then got comfortable again. It could feel their tails wagging in happiness against my body.

The old man chuckled and then said to me, "You better get on your way; call me if you ever have any problems or just to chat. See you later!"

I grinned and said, "See you later, Old Man!"

With that, he went back into his house as I turned away and began walking to the schoolyard.

-


	7. Chapter 7

As I passed people and Pokémon, I had flipped up hood over my head, so nobody could recognize me. I hurried as fast as I could past people without falling or running. I looked down at Buizel and Poochyena; both looked like they had fallen asleep. However, they snuggled and looked up at me with total satisfaction and happiness on their faces. I smiled back at them.

"We're almost at the school, guys," I said, "I need you to be ready to hide."

Both nodded as we arrived at the schoolyard. I first checked as if to who was there. Nobody was there; the bell must've not rung yet. I quickly scanned the area for a hiding place that was **close** to the table I sat with my friends.

A-ha! A big bush right next to it. Perfect! I quickly hurried over to the bush and bent down in front of it. I unzipped my sweatshirt and both of them popped out in front of me.

"Okay, you two!" I said, "I want you to **listen** very closely. You are to hide in this bush and remain here until I come and bring you out to take you to the woods. Do you understand me?"

Both of them saluted me with a grunt. Very cute. I loved it.

Suddenly, the bell rang and the doors started to open.

"Go! Go!" I whispered as they rustled into the bush and sat down perfectly still.

They nodded as I got up and said as I walked away, "Remember, don't move."

I quickly grabbed my backpack and looked towards the doors. Nobody was looking at me. Good, it worked.

"Thomas!" I heard someone yell.

I turned to see Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname walk over to the table. I waved to them as they sat down with me and pulled out their lunches.

"So, Thomas," Tucker said with a cocky grin as he opened his yogurt, "I never knew you were a big fan of bushes…"

Oh, no. Don't tell me. Did Tucker see me right as he got out of the building? Did Jocinda and Kaname see me too?

I made a face as I scoffed, "Heh, what're you talking about, hothead?"

"Don't **start** with me, man," he replied, "I saw you crouching in front of that bush and talking to it when I walked out."

I became nervous as I replied with a smirk, "No, I wasn't."

"Sorry, Thomas," I heard Jocinda say as she took a sip of lemonade, "but we all saw you. You were talking to it right before you came to the table."

"So, what's with the bush?" Tucker looked at it and then back at me, "Is it poison ivy? Can I get some to shove down Craig **Perkins**' shirt?"

Kaname shook his head and groaned, "Tucker, don't even start. You already got an in-school suspension today with him…"

"Oh, come on," Tucker whined, "The battle with him is just getting fun!"

YES! Although it was wrong for my heart to jump for joy at hearing Tucker getting in trouble again, it got the conversation off of Buizel and Poochyena's hiding place. I had to keep it going to prevent distraction.

"Somebody want to fill me in on what just happened?" I asked with a grin.

Now that I mentioned it, Tucker had several bruises on his face and arms.

"Tucker began shooting off his big mouth about how fire Pokémon are the 'number one' type ever," Kaname groaned, "Then, a student named Craig Perkins yelled at him about how no matter how hot the flames were; all fighting-types would squash it, because they were the best ever. This ticked Tucker off, and the two got into a fist-fight."

Jocinda gave a look of disgust at Tucker and explained, "Then, the teacher walked into the room and saw them. She gave Craig a detention. The reason Tucker has an in-school suspension is that he was currently beating up Craig when she saw the fight."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Tucker and said grinning, "So, in other words, I take it you took this Craig kid down gently?"

He laughed as he ate some of his yogurt, "Oh, yeah, but I wouldn't use the word 'gently', Thomas."

"Enough!" Jocinda snapped, "Really, Tucker! Did you have to stoop to his level?"

"Oh, geez, give me a break!" Tucker snapped back annoyed, "They sent him home, didn't they? So we don't have to worry about tension between us today!"

"Wait," I cut in, "they sent Craig home? I thought Tucker had the harsher punishment."

"Craig had a broken nose after the fight," Kaname groaned.

"A broken nose?" I exclaimed in shock.

Kaname nodded as he rubbed his left shoulder, "Yep, they sent him home with a note to his parents. He may be the one that suffered most from the fight, but I doubt he'll get sympathy from his parents…"

"Best of all," Tucker bragged, "I don't have to worry about going home tonight, because I don't have any parents to tell this to!"

There was a bit of silence from the whole table as Tucker realized his mistake and ditched his attitude.

"Tucker," Kaname said nicely, "You may want to keep comments like that to yourself…"

"I know…" Tucker chimed in response, "I just realized my mistake. I'm really sorry…"

All of us paused for a bit of silence. It was true; like me, Kaname and Tucker's parents did not make it out of the city in time during the incident. Jocinda's parents died of cancer two weeks later. So, the four of us could practically do whatever we wanted and whenever we wanted to.

"I'm depressed," Kaname moaned, "I'm changing the subject. Thomas."

I looked up at him as he said, "Why don't you have lunch today?"

My heart raced about not blowing my cover as I replied, "Oh, I'm really busy today. I'm doing some errands for Old Man Fellows, that's all."

"Oh, how sweet of you," Jocinda said in a singing tune, "I hope he's doing well. It's nice for you to do that for him."

"So, was one of the errands for the old man talking to that bush?" I saw Tucker joke, pointing to the bush with his thumb.

"No!" I snapped as my heart was racing, "Tucker, knock it off about that bush!"

"Come on, Thomas!" he grinned at me, but changed his tone to an annoyed one, "All three of us saw you in front of it when we walked out of the building."

"I was checking my backpack!" I said, "I thought I had left my journal at home, so I was checking it."

Jocinda asked with a concerned face, "Are you telling us the truth?"

It hurt for me to be lying to them, but Buizel and Poochyena's safety was in jeopardy. I had to keep them safe.

"Yes," I said, lying through my teeth.

Suddenly, we heard a finger snap.

We looked at Kaname, who said, "Group whisper."

Uh-oh. 'Group whispers' is when something serious is happening and we discuss it quietly among each other. It was one of the only times Kaname was not lazy. As we all got closer, Kaname looked at me and sighed. He finally spoke words that made me guilty and know I was busted if I didn't come clean.

He whispered, "Thomas, I saw you unzip your hoodie, and two small Pokémon jumped out in front of you. You said something to them and then they hid in the bush, where they still are currently. I swear, Thomas, none of us will breathe a word about this to anyone. You can come clean; tell us what's going on. You can trust us."

Jocinda whispered, "There's two Pokémon in the bush, and YOU were near them?"

Tucker looked at me and whispered, "Thomas, what in the world is going on with you?"

I clenched my hands into fists, but then let them go. I had to come clean there. Besides, there were my friends. I could trust them, as well as Old Man Fellows.

"Okay," I sighed as they listened closely, "The truth is-"

"My, my!" we heard an exciting exclaim, "My eyes must be fooling me!"

No! NO! Don't tell me it's happening! Don't tell me HE FOUND THEM!

-


	8. Chapter 8

We all whirled our heads to see Mr. Pepperridge grinning gleefully as he held Buizel and Poochyena in his arms near the bush! My friends were speechless as I gritted my teeth seeing Buizel and Poochyena completely frightened and **helpless**, shaking in his hands.

"No!" I said, my voice trembling, "He found them!"

"Is that… a Buizel and a Poochyena?" Tucker asked dumbfounded, "How on earth did they get in the city here!?"

"Thomas, what's happening?" Kaname asked me.

I kept my attention on them, but answered quickly, "Okay, fine. Long story short: Yesterday evening, I found those two almost about to drown near the beach. I saved them and came to check on them this morning. They followed me out of the woods into the city. I was going to bring them back after I chatted with you guys!"

"But, of course, 'Mr. Butthead' has to ruin you plan and your day as always!" Tucker growled quietly.

"But how?" Jocinda asked worrying, "None of us told him about the bush!"

"It's not like we were loud enough for someone to eavesdrop on us, either!" Tucker added.

"I don't get it!" I said, shaking in fear, "My plan was fool-proof! Those two didn't move a muscle; they stayed right there! How did it go wrong?"

Kaname said, "Uh-oh," grabbing our attention.

We all looked as he turned to Tucker and asked, "Tucker, didn't you point at the bush while talking to Thomas just now?"

"Yeah," he said, "I was asking him about the-"

Suddenly, he looked dumbfounded **straight up** at the sky and his jaw dropped. He grunted as he hid his face in his hands.

"Oh, my, gosh, I'm so stupid!" he growled.

He turned to me and said with a depressed face, "Thomas, I am so, so sorry! I just gave away Buizel and Poochyena's hiding place!"

He banged his face into the table as I tried to comfort him, "Are you sure it was you? You only signaled for like 5 seconds there and continued talking to me!"

"I know you're trying to be optimistic here, Thomas," I heard Jocinda say as I turned to her, "but this is Mr. Pepperridge were talking about here. Make one slip-up near him and it becomes a fatal mistake!"

We all watched as Mr. Pepperridge said **aloud**, "Look at these glorious little wild Pokémon, everyone! I must have them! Students gather around, as I will show you how to catch wild Pokémon!"

My eyes widened with anger as Buizel and Poochyena started shaking **violently**. They both looked at me in desperation. I started to grit my teeth.

"He's… mocking me…" I growled as I clenched my fists tightly.

"Impossible," Kaname objected, "I saw him come out. He didn't arrive here until we were already sitting down. He couldn't have seen you with them."

The students started to make a circle to surround the Pokémon and Mr. Pepperridge.

"Come on!" Tucker said aloud, getting up, "We better get in that circle or they'll cut us off!"

We barely got in as the circle formed. I saw Buizel and Poochyena, shaking as the stood in front of Mr. Pepperridge. He grinned that twisted smile as he pulled out two Pokéballs from his belt.

"I will catch you and add you to my elegant team!" he shouted to Buizel and Poochyena as he flung the Pokéballs in the air.

Suddenly, two forms shot out of the balls as they returned to Mr. Pepperridge's hands. Then, I saw a huge four-armed muscular Pokémon with a blue and orange mudfish Pokémon appear in front of Buizel and Poochyena.

"Whoa, he really is going to battle those two…" Jocinda said nervously.

"What kind of Pokémon are those?" I asked fearfully and concerned.

"The muscular one is Machamp, a fighting-type," Kaname said, "and the mudfish is Swampert, a water and ground-type."

Before I could ask any questions, I heard Mr. Pepperridge yell, "Now, Machamp, use Low Kick!"

I gasped as Machamp started to take a running start, and then slid on the ground with its left leg forward. Buizel quickly shouted something to Poochyena, and it nodded in response. Both jumped above Machamp as it skidded behind them.

"Now, Swampert," he yelled, "Use water gun!" Swampert took a deep breath and then a huge burst of water shot out of its mouth. Both Buizel and Poochyena flipped, completely dodging the attack. They landed both together side-by-side. Just then, Poochyena slipped and hit the ground with a thud as it yelped in pain. Buizel gasped as it rushed over to get it up.

"Bui bu! Bui!" it yelled as Poochyena whimpered to get up.

Finally, it got up on all four feet. But just as they were about to ready themselves, Machamp skidded right behind them. They both turned to him in shock, caught off guard.

"Machamp, quickly, use Karate Chop!" Mr. Pepperridge ordered.

Machamp swung its arms at Buizel and Poochyena as they opened their eyes wide and braced for impact. It was a direct hit, sending both of them smack down into the dirt of the schoolyard. Both grunted as they skidded on the ground.

All the kids 'oohed' and 'aahed' as they battle continued on. I began to clench my fists as I became frustrated. I had to think of something, they needed me. I started shaking and gritting my teeth.

"We've got to stop him," I growled.

"Thomas, we want to help, but we can't!" Tucker yelled, "We're part of the school; we would get expelled if we stepped in and stopped this!"

"But, I'm not!" I said angrily.

"That doesn't matter!" Kaname said, "Buizel and Poochyena are in danger!"

"We've got to stop this somehow!" Jocinda said quickly.

I suddenly heard Mr. Pepperridge yell, "Now, Machamp, use Low Kick one more time!"

The fighting-type Pokémon then slid towards Buizel and Poochyena. The two were dizzy, still recovering from the last attack. They were sent back against the ground with a crash. I heard both of them scream in agony. I breathed heavily. I had to stop this.

"Quickly, Swampert, finish them off with Hyper Beam!" Mr. Pepperridge yelled.

"His Swampert knows Hyper Beam!?" Tucker said unbelieving.

"This is it! He's going to finish them off with this move!" Jocinda said, covering her eyes.

"He really is going to capture them!" Kaname said.

I gritted my teeth as a light started to form in front of Swampert's mouth. Mr. Pepperridge grinned with absolute glee in anticipation of his victory. Buizel and Poochyena were struggling to get up on their feet. They shook as they kept their eyes closed. I couldn't stand seeing them like this.

THIS WAS GOING TO STOP. NOW.

"Over my dead body!" I screamed as I bolted over to Buizel and Poochyena, scaring my friends and several students standing near us.

"Thomas! No!" Kaname screamed after me.

I rushed as fast as I could when I saw the Hyper Beam attack shot out of Swampert's mouth. Buizel and Poochyena opened their eyes as the attack came closer. They struggled in fear to get out of the way of the attack, but they couldn't react in time. Just as the attack came in front of them, I skidded to a stop as I slid between them and the attack, with my back towards the immediate incoming danger.

Suddenly, the most intense pain was felt throughout my body as the Hyper Beam hit my back. I felt my sweatshirt tear open, giving direct pain to every nerve and cell in my skin. My eyes opened wide as the unbelievable burning agony crept up my spine.

I just stared at the ground as Buizel and Poochyena's eyes were completely stunned and focused at me. They were shaking in fear about me getting hurt, but I didn't look at them. My mouth slowly opened as I uncontrollably gasped.

It was then I felt so much pain, I opened my mouth as wide as I could and let out the hugest scream I have ever heard in my life.

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

-


	9. Chapter 9

Swampert and Machamp gasped and took a step back as Mr. Pepperridge **yelled**, "What in the world! What is going on!?"

I let my head drop as I balanced myself on my wrists and knees. I began to clench my fists as hard as I could. The pain was too much for me to bear. I started to have tears run down my face.

All the kids started panicking. Some of the girls let out blood-curdling screams as I heard other kids say things like 'what just heck just happened'.

"Thomas!" I heard Tucker scream as he and the others rushed to my side.

"Thomas, are you okay!?" Jocinda covered her mouth, squealing.

"Dude," Tucker yelled, "You just took a direct hit!"

I couldn't reply; I just screamed, "AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

I heard Kaname say, "Jocinda, go get the **school nurse** and the principal now! Thomas is really hurt badly!"

She nodded as she **started** to get up.

"Oh, wow!" Tucker said, "His sweatshirt has a huge hole torn into it and his back's bleeding! He must've been hit hard!"

"He's going to need immediate **first aid**," Kaname stated, and then said to me, "Thomas, can you hear me?"

I couldn't talk, but I nodded and gargled, "GGGUUUUHHHH!"

"Okay," Kaname said, "Don't try to get up. Just stay in this position. We're gonna get you help. Hurry, Jocinda."

I saw Jocinda's feet run past my head and through the circle to the door as I noticed several drops of blood **drip** of my body and onto the grass. I kept my fists clenched as I struggled to glance at Buizel and Poochyena. Both of them were terrified, looking at me. They had their mouths open in shock, as their eyes were sparkling again. Tears slowly started to form in their eyes.

"Augh! Uhh, hey… it's all r-right, you two," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes and looking at them trying to smile in pain, "It's go-ahh! I-it's going to b-be okay!"

They kept shaking as they gritted their teeth. Poochyena started having tears coming down its face as it turned and buried its head into Buizel's chest. It began to whimper in a high tone uncontrollably. Buizel hugged Poochyena's head and started to have tears visible too.

"Hey," I smirked at them, "I'm going t-to be okay! I-I am just a little bit shaken up, th-that's all. Don't w-worry, it's over. I-I'll take you to-ahh! I'll take you to the woods soon…"

I reached my arms out painfully as I shook. They looked at me and first were afraid they'd hurt me. But as I smiled at them, they tried so hard not to cry, gritting their teeth visibly and partially closing their eyes. They finally broke down and started wailing as they collided with me. I smiled; I was in total agony and wanted to cry myself, but I didn't so they wouldn't feel worse. They just kept wailing and crying as they shut their eyes and grabbed my shirt, burying their faces as deep into my chest as they could go. I was grateful; it hurt, hearing them cry, but I was so happy they weren't hurt too badly.

However, I was starting to become worried; my plan had failed. Everybody in the schoolyard was staring at me. They just saw me protect Pokémon. No doubt, this story was going to spread around Kilyla City for a while. Don't get me wrong; I liked Buizel and Poochyena, but I was afraid that the city would start believing I was a Pokémon Trainer.

"What is the meaning of this?!" I heard Mr. Pepperridge scream as he began to march over to where we were, "I have a good mind to report you to the principal and expel you for this disruptive behavior!"

Disruptive behavior? Was that man serious!? I just took a Hyper Beam to the back thanks to him, and all he can think about is me being a student and expelling me for getting in his way of capturing two little Pokémon! Did he not care that he just critically injured me? Why that little…

He knelt down to see me with an angry face, but then stared dumbfounded as he recognized me.

"Wha? Thomas… Gungsten? Is that you?" he asked me.

Suddenly, I started to hear children all around us whisper and talk amongst themselves:

"Wait, that's Thomas Gungsten?"

"Isn't he the kid that doesn't want to come here?"

"Oh, it's that kid…"

"Looks like he's not so 'cool' for Pokémon anymore…"

"I'm surprised he's even here!"

"I thought he was scared of Pokémon…"

"Yeah, so why is he protecting them?"

"Geez, do you think he's okay with that injury?"

I simply closed my eyes when I heard Mr. Pepperridge say angrily, "What do you think you were doing, placing yourself into unpredictable danger while I was teaching a lesson in wild Pokémon?"

Buizel and Poochyena looked at the man in fear and slowly cuddled closer to me.

"A lesson, my butt!" Tucker yelled angrily, "You attacked those Pokémon! You should never have done that! Thomas is hurt because of you!"

Kaname said in a strict tone, "Both of you, calm down! Our priority should be on Thomas right now."

"How dare you!" Mr. Pepperridge snapped at Tucker, completely ignoring Kaname, "Just wait until I tell the principal about this! You will-"

"Everybody, be quiet and calm down!" we heard someone yell.

There was a huge hush. Everyone turned as an opening from the circle formed. There came Jocinda, with Nurse Joy and Principal Vicar. Nurse Joy had her usually attire on. Principal Vicar wore a black suit-coat with a white dress shirt and pink tie. His black spiky hair and black shades resembled Kaname. I mean, well, they should. After all, he was Kaname's uncle. So, I hoped that he would hopefully listen to reason with Kaname, if not me.

"Principal Vicar! Thank goodness you are here!" Mr. Pepperridge said as he seemed to joyfully prance over to them, waiting to tattle on me.

"What is going on here?" Principal Vicar asked as Swampert and Machamp walked over to us.

"I will tell you," Mr. Pepperridge explained, "This children have such nerve, I tell you. I was just having a battle with those two wild Pokémon this young man has in his arms to teach the students about catching wild Pokémon. As I was about to win the battle and capture them, he steps in and stops the battle! On top of that, I am verbally abused by his friends because of it! Their behavior is intolerable! I demand they go to your office and think about what they've done, as I finish my battle with these two Pokémon!"

Insensitive freaking idiot. He didn't even mention that his Pokémon just injured me.

Buizel and Poochyena started to shake in fear of Mr. Pepperridge, who had ended his sentence by pointing to them. They snuggled closer, but became more confident as I quietly shushed them and patted their backs again.

Mr. Pepperridge smiled gleefully at me, awaiting his expected response. But, we all were surprised (my friends, Buizel, Poochyena, and I mostly relieved) to hear Principal Vicar say something different.

"Now, hold it, Mr. Pepperridge," he said apparently not to thrilled about his employee's demands, "I'm not going to send students to my office, just because I only heard one side of the story."

He looked at me and gasped, but didn't see my face.

He then said unbelieving, "But, more importantly, I heard during the battle, a teenager flew himself in the path of a Hyper Beam, and it looks like it's true!"

He and Nurse Joy walked behind me as Jocinda crouched with my friends next to me. They looked at me and mouthed 'It's going to be okay'.

"Oh, my word!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, "This is horrible! If this young man had been closer to the Hyper Beam when it launched, he may not have-"

She stopped when Principal Vicar shook his head with disgust and looked at Mr. Pepperridge.

"Your Pokémon attacked and almost FATALLY injured this young man," he looked with disappointment at him and said angrily, "and you didn't EVEN THINK of giving him first aid or checking to see if he was okay?"

Mr. Pepperridge became embarrassed and nervous.

"W-well, you see…" he stammered.

"Yeah, and on top of that," Tucker interrupted, "He threatens Thomas to send him to your office for 'inexcusable behavior' and to expel Kaname, Jocinda, and I when we tried to stand up for him! Mr. Pepperridge was such a jerk to us!"

"Tucker," Kaname said, grabbing his attention, "I understand you are angry too, but you've already gotten an in-school suspension today because of Craig. You'll get kicked out of school if you don't calm down."

"Wait a minute," Principal Vicar said shocked, "Did you say 'Thomas'? As in…"

He slowly bent down in front of me and looked at my face as I raised my head up at him.

"Thomas Gungsten?" he finished.

I was completely embarrassed as I said in pain, "Hello, sir…"

He looked at Buizel and Poochyena in my arms. He looked back at me. He smiled a tiny bit.

"Thomas Gungsten… in the presence of Pokémon… without getting frightened…" he said amazed.

He turned to Kaname and asked, "Kaname, what happened here?"

Kaname explained with a groan, "Thomas had brought Buizel and Poochyena into the yard for a couple minutes, so he could talk to us. He hid them in a bush near the table. Mr. Pepperridge found them and immediately brought his Pokémon out. He began attacking them, so he could catch them, when Thomas stepped in between one of the attacks. I quickly told Jocinda to go and get you and Nurse Joy. Then, what Tucker said is what happened while she found you."

"Thank you, Kaname," the principal replied, "I am proud of you; but, that does not explain why Buizel and Poochyena are in the schoolyard to begin with."

He looked back at me and asked, "Thomas, I know you are hurt, but I need to know what happened before we can help you."

I breathed heavily and uncontrollably. I looked up. Mr. Pepperridge was glaring at me with a cold shoulder, that look I hate so much. My friends were looking at me with concern. And, every kid in the circle was staring at me, probably waiting for the answer so they could tell their parents or other people as much as they could.

I looked down at Buizel and Poochyena. They had stopped crying and looked up at me. They nodded with smiles on their faces, giving me permission to let them know. I let out a tired exhale as I kept them close, just in case.

"Listen," I said quietly with difficulty, "I know that by law…, I was not supposed to interrupt… a Pokémon battle. But, there was a promise… I made to these guys."

Principal Vicar asked, "A promise?"

"You see," I said taking huge and painful breaths, "Yesterday at the alcove… on the beach…, Buizel and Poochyena… were trapped under a huge pile of rocks… and were in danger of drowning. After I saved them… and found them a place to sleep, I went back this morning… to check on them. After I left them, they followed me… out of the city… until I got to my friend's house… and realized it. I promised them that after lunch here, I would bring them… back to the alcove."

"I see," the principal said, as he looked at the two in my hands and then back at me.

"A likely story!" scoffed Mr. Pepperridge, "This friend is probably made up to get out of trouble! Where's his proof?"

The principal replied in a nicer way, "Mr. Pepperridge is right. Can your friend verify what your saying is true?"

"Yes," I said confidently, "the friend… is Old Man Fellows."

Principal Vicar smiled in relief as he said, "I know Fellows. He's a good man. So, he was the one who saw the two following you?"

"Yes, sir," I coughed, "and he's also the one… who told me to hide Buizel and Poochyena… in the schoolyard… during lunch… until it was time to go."

Principal Vicar looked at me, then at Buizel and Poochyena, then at his nephew, then back at me. He sighed, rubbed his neck like Kaname did (Cause they're related), and smiled.

"I understand, and I believe you, Thomas," he said to me.

My heart was overjoyed. Thank God on high he believed me. Buizel and Poochyena sighed a huge relief as they cuddled their heads again into my chest. My friends smiled at me.

"What!?" Mr. Pepperridge said surprised, "I object! Thomas was a total disruptive-"

"Mr. Pepperridge, you and I have known Fellows since we were infants," Principal Vicar interrupted, "This is something he'd do. But, that's not important. Right now, we need to focus on Thomas' injuries."

"Very well," Mr. Pepperridge said irritated, twirling his hair neatly, "We can shelf this for later."

My heart suddenly felt on fire. I was gritting my teeth in anger. I clenched my fists. I started to lightly growl.

"But, before we do that…" I said angrily, grabbing everybody's attention. Buizel and Poochyena looked at me, wondering what I was doing and what I meant. I set them down on the ground as I painfully attempted to get up. My rage was overloading. I was so mad.

"Bui Bui!" I hear Buizel say, trying to convince me to stay on the ground. Poochyena whined as it cuddled against it in fear.

"Hold on, you two," I winced, as I stared at Mr. Pepperridge angrily, "I want a word with Mr. Pepperridge."

He kept giving me that look; it made me so dang angry! All those adults who were upset at me for not being a Pokémon trainer looked at me like I was a disgrace, like vermin.

I HATE THAT!

"What… is wrong with you…?" I growled. Suddenly, I stood up in front of him. The pain fueled my anger. I looked at him gritting my teeth. Suddenly, that anger rose up throughout my body.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I screamed.

Everybody in the schoolyard, including Principal Vicar, my friends, Buizel, and Poochyena, were startled. It was rare to see me angry. I'm very patient, but when I am pushed too far, there's no stopping me. Mr. Pepperridge gasped with a scared face as I stepped forward.

I screamed, "I get horribly injured by your Pokémon, to the point where I am bleeding on the ground, and all you can think about is EXPELLING ME!? Did you not even notice you hurt me? You could have at least asked me if I was okay, if not getting the nurse instead of my friends doing it! If you really wanted me to come here, you would've CARED about me!"

I pointed my fingers to Buizel and Poochyena, who were shaking of me shouting, as I continued to yell, "But, that's not my major beef with you! HOW DARE YOU! Taking advantage of two helpless wild Pokémon! You saw them, shaking in fear of you! They were frightened of the city and you were attacking them, knowing it! I may not be a Pokémon trainer, but that's not what a Pokémon trainer is supposed to do! You DON'T DO THAT! You fight them on equal terms, not take advantage of them! YOU ARE A HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR A POKÉMON TRAINER!"

Mr. Pepperridge gasped as his face showed he was insulted and angry. I'm sure I would have kept screaming my head off, but just then, a surge of pain shot up my spine. I grunted as I dropped to my knees. I struggled to get back up, but something furry was pulling down from my right arm. I then felt something pull on my left sleeve. I looked at my sides.

Buizel was holding my right arm as Poochyena was biting my left sleeve. They were trying to get me to stay down on the ground, for my sake.

"Bu! Bui, bu bu bui!" Buizel said with a nervous face as it shook its head, telling me to stay down. Poochyena's rear legs kept skidding as it closed its eyes and tried to back up, forcing me to lie down.

I wasn't done yet. I tried to get up, but they wouldn't let me go; when I tried to get off my knees, they pulled me back down. The more I looked at them, the tighter the grip and stronger the pull they had was.

Finally, I grunted in anger and said gently, "Okay, you two, I'm done. I'll stay down."

I lay down as they let go and came close to my face. Poochyena smiled as it came inches from my nose. It licked me and began panting as its tail kept wagging and eyes sparkled in happiness, making me calm and happier. Buizel sat down and began rubbing the back of my neck.

It kept saying over and over, "Bui, bu bui… Bui bu bu… Bu bu bui bui bu…" as if it was telling me it was going to be okay, and for me to relax.

It was strange. I thought I was the one protecting them, not the other way around. It felt good, Poochyena licking my face, and Buizel telling me to relax and that is was okay. I was still nervous, but it felt good. It felt like… a bond. No, it wasn't like a bond, like you'd have with parents. And, it was too personal for a friend bond.

It was a… brother… bond…?

Yeah… it was, wasn't it? I felt so close, yet so far away. I wanted to be close, but I still was nervous around them. I mean, although they really trusted me, they must've not trusted me so much.

I mean they didn't do anything like hug me or say they loved me…

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder as Principal Vicar had gotten up from crouching and walked in front of Mr. Pepperridge.

"And, I have a problem with you too, Mr. Pepperridge," he said as he folded his arms and glared at him angrily.

"You cannot be serious!" Mr. Pepperridge protested, "You can't really feel for such intolerable behavior!"

"YOUR behavior is the only intolerable thing I am seeing right now!" Principal Vicar gently and firmly argued, "Mr. Pepperridge, you were having a Pokémon battle, with students circling around. Some of them are younger than Thomas, some of them even toddlers here for day-care. What if one of your attacks missed and hit a student? What if Thomas didn't interfere at the Hyper Beam attack, and Buizel and Poochyena dodged it, and it hit one or more students? And if this is the result of a teenager like Thomas getting hurt," as he pointed to my injury, "think of the disaster that would befall a younger person! Mr. Pepperridge, I don't think you understand that you could've not only killed Thomas, but a handful of students! Good Lord, what would've the parents done!?"

"I wasn't trying to hurt any of the students!" Mr. Pepperridge objected, "I was-"

"I know," the principal responded calmly and bringing his voice down, "I'm sorry for yelling, and I understand your motives. But, you went too far. Not only would the parents have filed lawsuits against us, there would have been students, if injured, who would be terrified of Pokémon and never want to learn the joys and pleasures of knowing and being with them. If you truly wanted to battle Buizel and Poochyena, you should have come to me first and asked my permission."

He turned briefly to Nurse Joy and said, "Nurse Joy, please get your Pokémon out and start helping Thomas."

Nurse joy nodded as she took a Pokéball out her **medical bag** and threw it in the air. It opened as a form of a green dinosaur-looking Pokémon with a flower on its neck appeared.

"Meganium," she said, "I need you to use Synthesis on Thomas' back."

It said, "Nium," as it slowly walked over to me and it began glowing. Suddenly, an enjoyable feeling spread all across my back.

"Alright," Tucker cheered, "His injuries are already healing!"

Buizel and Poochyena sat down in front of me and smiled. Both of them looked relieved that I was okay.

We all turned our attention back to Principal Vicar as he said to Mr. Pepperridge, "I want you and your Swampert and Machamp to go and wait in my office for me to come back. When I do, we are all going to have a long chat about why our students and everybody else's safety is more important than our own personal interests. Do not worry; you are not going to be fired or disciplined."

Mr. Pepperridge took a deep breath and twirled his mustache as he closed his eyes and gave a proud look. He looked at his Pokémon and signaled them to follow him.

"Very well," he sounded insulted, trying to raise pity, "I shall look forward to our discussion about this matter."

He walked past us but glanced down and muttered, "Despicable deliquient."

I glared at him and growled, "Snobby low-life jerk."

"Enough, both of you," the principal warned as he then turned to Mr. Pepperridge and said, "Go." 


	10. Chapter 10

As that rotten excuse of a teacher… Err, I mean… As Mr. Pepperridge and his two Pokémon went into the school building, Principal Vicar began rubbing his shoulder like his nephew and looked at us.

"It's probably going to be a long time and **conversation** to convince him that you did the right thing, Thomas," he said exhaling, "Oh, this is going to be annoying. What a drag…"

"I know, right?" Kaname fixed his hood, "What a pain…"

"Hey," Jocinda snapped, "Now don't you go and **start** in!"

I rolled my eyes as Nurse Joy said, "There you go, Thomas, your injuries are completely gone."

I was able to barely stand as I brushed off my pants. I staggered, but I was able to stand. However, I felt like a ton of unstable bricks, about to fall at any time.

"How do you feel?" I heard her ask me.

"My back is no longer bleeding," I winced, "but my whole body is completely sore and numb at the same time. It's so hard to move. Thank you so much, Nurse Joy, and your Meganium too."

Both of them smiled at me as the nurse said sweetly, "You're welcome. I'm happy to help."

I looked down at Buizel and Poochyena, and then back at the principal, saying, "However, I don't know if I can carry those guys home, yet alone walk home alone. I am in just so much pain…"

"I've got an idea!" I heard Tucker say as I painfully turned around to him.

He continued, "How about Jocinda, Kaname, and I escort Thomas, Buizel, and Poochyena back to the woods?"

A good suggestion, but even I didn't think that would be accepted. I mean, they still were students; they had to go to school. Plus, Tucker was in trouble; this seemed like a "Get-out-of-jail-free card" to me if I ever saw one.

"Is this so you can get out early of school, Tucker?" Jocinda **folded** her arms with a smirk.

"No! Okay, yes," Tucker grinned, "but **listen**. **Thomas** just admitted he cannot really go home alone. He needs people he can trust to help him get Buizel and Poochyena back safely. He knows Kaname, you, and me. We're the most important people, besides Old Man Fellows, he can trust right now. Besides, I have an in-school suspension anyway and it takes 45 minutes or more to get to Thomas' house from here. Why don't I just have the suspension carrying Thomas home or something?"

Now, any other principal that would hear that would either deny that choice right on the spot or get Tucker an even bigger punishment for saying that, but Principal Vicar was different like that. Not only was he a friend of Tucker's because of his relation to Kaname, but he always looked for a positive road out of punishment and problems. He put his right hand to his chin and nodded with a grin, then slowly turned his head to me. His face was prompting me to give me my opinion to this suggestion. I then assumed that he in fact did know about Thomas and Craig's fight.

I nodded and said, "It would really be great to have someone help me."

Principal Vicar looked at Buizel and Poochyena, who smiled innocently at him and nodded. He looked back to see Kaname shrug as Jocinda giggled at the site of Tucker closing his eyes and crossing his fingers with a ridiculous and hilarious expression on his face.

"Very well," he smiled, "Kaname, I want you, Jocinda, and Tucker to help Thomas and these two Pokémon back to his house. You all can have an early leave today."

Tucker raised his fists and said **aloud**, "All right!"

The principal turned to his nephew and the girl next to him and said, "Kaname, Jocinda, I want you two to tell me if Thomas has any more trouble from here on out, okay?"

Kaname nodded as Jocinda said, "We promise, sir."

Nurse Joy recalled Meganium into her Pokéball and said good-bye to the principal, causing him to focus his attention off the group as she walked back into the building. Tucker began to turn away from the conversation, as if he were sneaking through a high-tech security palace or something. Principal Vicar noticed this and turned to him with an amused glare as the redhead tip-toed away towards the gate entrance I had come from.

"Oh, and Tucker," he called with an amusement in his voice to the boy who stopped dramatically and turned around slowly, "I am giving you grace with this. I am not going to give you a second chance if you start another fight again. I want you to behave, okay?"

Tucker rubbed the back of his head as he grinned sheepishly and giggled. He gave the amused principal a thumbs-up as he nodded.

Principal Vicar turned to all the students and said aloud, "Well, what are all of you looking at? I do not see anything worth staring at here. Go hang out and play; for the rest of the day, all of you will stay out here and relax until we call your parents for early dismissal!"

All the students cheered and applauded in happiness and excitement, with an occasional "Dude, can you believe that!?" in there. I smirked; hearing that made a part of me want to be in school to feel the excitement of getting out early.

Wait, did I just say that? Oh, no... I blame Mr. Pepperridge for this.

"Alright," Principal Vicar sighed, "I am going to go back and chat with Mr. Pepperridge and his Pokémon. I will see all of you later."

He started to leave as I suddenly thought of something of the uttermost importance. Good Lord! I just sounded like Mr. Pepperridge! Uh, let me rephrase that for you who are laughing at me. I thought of something I needed to tell him, so I called out to him before he left. Phew… Yeah. There we go.

"Hey! Principal Vicar!" I called out, catching him hearing and causing him to turn around at me, "Could you call Old Man Fellows and tell him about this for me? He would want to know about this and my accident."

He nodded towards me and answered, "Don't worry; I was going to call him anyway to verify if you were telling the truth. You do not mind if I ask him, do you?"

I shook my head and replied, "No problem; I have nothing to hide; I haven't lied."

"Very good," he said with a relieved smile, "Then I will. See you later, everyone. I hope you recover fast, Thomas."

We all said our farewells as he entered the building. Kids began playing as teachers walked out and watched over the yard. Older kids just flocked into groups and chatted with each other. I looked back at my friends and the two Pokémon as they looked at me and each other. I know some person said 'Silence is golden' (Because he probably had little kids around him/her), but this silence was not shiny. It was awkward. Super awkward, man, it just was too weird.

"So…" I said, breaking the silence, "How are we gonna get me and these guys to my house?"

"Well, can you walk?" Kaname asked.

I made an unsure and troubled face that people would laugh at if I was in a comedy sketch or TV show. But, this wasn't funny. Well, maybe to you, but you guys aren't cruel, are you?

….

I am watching you.

Anyway, I shrugged and tried to lift my foot to walk. Suddenly, something felt terrible wrong. Instead of going forward, I was going down. I mean, fast and hard down to the ground. My center of gravity somehow got messed up when I thought it was safe to function normally.

…Hmm…

I am making all of you laugh, aren't I? Isn't it easy how you can laugh at other people's misery when they tell it a certain way? Am I really that funny to you guys? I am doing my best not to, but something is telling me some, if not all, are smiling, if not laughing.

So, anyway, (I am still watching you) I opened my eyes suddenly from a glazed state as I realized it.

"Oh, boy," I muttered nervously as I went down.

However, before I hit the ground again, I felt two hands catch me in a slumped state. I looked up to see Tucked grinning at me. He chuckled at me as Jocinda gasped by clasping her hands on her mouth. Buizel and Poochyena walked closer and stared at me, making sure I was okay.

"Did good ol' Tucker just save baby Thomas from getting an owie boo-boo?" he teased me in a stupid motherly voice.

I grinned evilly as I glared at my friends. I found it amusing and… so did you, didn't you? Stop laughing at me! I know you are! Geez! I know you are, either out loud or deep inside behind a "cool" smile! Stop it!

….

Actually, go ahead; I just realized some of you are really entertained by this, so go ahead. After all, that's what stories are supposed to do, right?

Anyway, Jocinda giggled as Kaname shook his head. Buizel exhaled and rolled his eyes, folding his arms as Poochyena smiled at me, wagging his tail.

Tucker raised his head and picked me up as he said to Kaname, "Hey, does this answer your question?"

The lazy boy exhaled annoyed and said, "Okay, time for plan B."

"Wait, you had a plan B already?" Tucker responded quickly, "How far did you think ahead?"

"Hello? Who are you talking to?" Kaname answered with a question.

He bent down to Buizel and Poochyena and asked, "Hey, I know you guys are nervous, and you trust only Thomas and Old Man Fellows right now, but you can trust us, too."

"Kaname?" I asked him.

"My plan," he replied to me, "was for us to carry each of you guys."

I finally understood it. I looked at Buizel and Poochyena, who looked at me in uncertainty. I smiled gently at them.

"Don't worry," I said to them, "You guys can trust these three. Like Old Man Fellows, they wouldn't hurt you. They love Pokémon. You can trust Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname."

They looked at each other and then smiled and nodded at each other.

Jocinda bent down and smiled, "So, which one of you are okay with being picked up and carried by me?"

I prayed in my head for a second that one of them would choose her; she was a "gently fragile flower", if you call shy timid girls who are super sensitive. I watched as Poochyena tilted his head as Buizel patted his back. He smiled and nodded, prompting the puppy Pokémon to go ahead. He walked forward as she smiled.

"Okay, Poochyena, please hold still and do not be afraid," she said as she scooped him into her arms.

When she stood up, Poochyena's back was in her right arm, lying down showing his belly. He adjusted himself so he was comfortable. I was surprised; he adjusted quickly to Jocinda. I was certain he would be nervous or scared to be held by someone other than me or the old man.

Kaname got Buizel's attention by looking at him and asking, "Are you okay then being carried by me?"

Buizel smiled gently as he nodded and got closer. Kaname scooped under his bottom and picked him up so he was sitting on his left arm. He put his paws on my friend's coat, just in case for extra balance. He smiled at the sight of Poochyena, who was really enjoying being carried like that.

I then thought of something; they were nervous when other human were around me. However, when I told them that they were friendly, they would instantly trust them. Was the reason they trust my friends was because I had told them? Did they value what I said? Huh, that was interesting…

Just then, I heard Tucker groan jokingly, "Oh great. Thanks, guys. You get the cute and adorable lightweight Pokémon. Now, I get left with the heavy cripple."

My left eye twitched as I turned to him and said, "You forgot about my looks, Tucker. Do you think I am ugly?"

He looked at me and grinned, "I love you, Thomas."

"Suck-up," I growled jokingly, as he hoisted me on his back, like I was getting a piggyback ride.

I could've sworn I had seen Jocinda, Buizel, and Poochyena giggle at me.

"Alright now," Kaname said, "Let's start going to Thomas' house."

As we all nodded, we turned to grab my backpack. After Kaname grabbed it, we all walked out of the gate, towards my house. But before we left sight of it, Tucker had looked back and suddenly grown pale.

He said moaning, "Oh no…"

We all turned to him. He had a look of concern on his face; a bad sign if he had it. It usually meant trouble was on its way.

"What?" Jocinda asked, "Is Mr. Pepperridge coming back out to find us?"

"No," he said, temporarily calming my heart, "but…"

He gulped as he tried to hurry past the other and move faster.

"But, what?" I said, starting to get nervous.

He sighed deeply and said the next sentence in a worried manner.

"I think Skyler just saw us." 


	11. Chapter 11

"Who? What?" I asked.

Tucker stopped as we all looked at him. He seemed worried, and like I said, if Tucker was worried, we all should be worried. I had no idea was wrong with him, but whoever this 'Skyler' person was that Tucker talked about, I was starting to worry for Buizel and Poochyena's safety.

"Are you being serious, Tucker?" Jocinda asked as she peered back into the schoolyard, "Is he following us?"

"No, but he sees us with these **little guys** and is watching us. I suggest we get going as fast as we can," he **responded**.

"Wait a minute," I asked, "What is going on here? Who is this 'Skyler' guy you're talking about? Is he going to be a problem?"

"See? There he is," Tucker said, to me at the time ignoring what I said.

I looked back into the yard to figure out who he was talking about. I scanned the area to see everybody still playing or talking. Just then, my eye caught a teenager walking with his hands in his pockets across the yard. He had black hair with two bangs across his eyes, but the left one was slightly longer. He had black eyes and a green bandana. He had a black jacket with a metal collar. He wore green **fingerless gloves**and black **leather shorts** with chains around the legs. He wore blue and green sneakers.

He had that air around him that made him strong and very collected. However, he had that feel that made you want to stay away from him. He was looking at us the whole time, and realized I was looking back at him. He jerked his head back in a cool manner, acknowledging me. His bangs moved back as his eyes gave me an interested look.

"Skyler is a transfer student that came to the school several weeks ago," Jocinda said, prompting me to believe that the teen was Skyler.

Kaname shook his head, "He is an absolute horrible example of a trainer."

I was shocked; Kaname never says anything bad about anyone unless if they're really bad. I looked at him as he studied us very closely.

"Really?" I asked with a hint of doubt in my voice, "He doesn't look like one. He looks like an average nice looking guy, like me actually."

Tucker suddenly raised his head in awkward **laughter**, as he and I took steps back. He shook his head as he turned his head to me.

"Oh, no, no, no, he is nothing like you," he said to me, "If you compared him to Mr. Pepperridge, that teacher snob would look like an angel."

I did a double-take; Mr. Pepperridge would be an angel to this kid? What!? There was no way. Just no way in heck that could be true. I looked towards Buizel and then at Poochyena; both were looking at Skyler. I could tell they were starting to get nervous around seeing and talking about him.

"There is no way anyone could be a more horrible excuse for a trainer than what Mr. Pepperridge just did to me," I protested, "What is it about Skyler that makes him so bad?"

"He views Pokémon as battle tools, not creatures," Kaname said with disgust, "He thinks that when he wins, he is the one that gets stronger and gets the praise."

"But, that's stupid," I objected, "I mean, even though I was scared and am still nervous around them, Pokémon have feelings, hearts, and attitudes like us humans. They have the right to choose to become ours, not forced to like inanimate objects."

"Yeah, try convincing him of that," Tucker said sarcastically, "He won't listen to you no matter what. He drives all the teachers, including 'Mr. Snobberridge', insane. He constantly gets into trouble, but he's like us; he doesn't have any parents."

I looked back to see him raise an eyebrow; I just realized he was staring at Buizel and Poochyena the whole entire time. He was interested: in catching them. I glanced at the two Pokémon. They were starting to get really nervous and breathe heavily. I decided it was time to go, now. I quickly thought of pretending I was hurt.

"Ow! Ow! Aw, geez, that really hurts!" I yelled, catching everyone's attention.

Kaname looked at me and asked, "You okay, Thomas?"

"No," I grunted faking it, "I'm in a lot of pain. I really think we should get going now…"

Tucker nodded as he grinned, "Roger that. Let's rock and roll down the path of scorching glory!"

"You mean Thomas' house, right?" Jocinda asked confused.

He gave her a disappointed glare as he asked, "Why do you gotta ruin such a great awesome sentence like that?"

We laughed at Tucker as we continued from the schoolyard to my house. I quickly glanced back into the schoolyard. Skyler had turned around, walking back towards the school. I knew he had stopped watching us. I didn't trust him. I could tell just by seeing him and my friend's description of him that I had to watch out for him. He was as big of a threat to Poochyena and Buizel as Mr. Pepperridge was.

-

We were very **close** to my house as we continued through the streets. As we passed many people, they all gave us extremely surprised glares. My first reason was of the huge gaping hole in the back of my sweatshirt in where I owe Mr. Pepperridge's Swampert a big 'thank you' for a new trend of fashion. I had to admit, I was getting chilly, but luckily I had an exact copy of the sweatshirt at home, so I could use this one for cleaning or something else. The second reason, which I had a huge hunch was the reason, was that they saw Thomas Gungsten with Pokémon and was very close to them. I hoped they didn't think they were mine, but Jocinda's and/or Kaname's Pokémon, since they were holding them.

Again, I say I wasn't ashamed of them; I just didn't want people to think I was a trainer. I did not want to battle anyone.

I was resting my eyes as my head was on Tucker's shoulder, but I did not want to fall asleep and risk drooling on his shoulder.

"Oh, aren't you just precious? Yes, you are!" I heard a motherly voice from Jocinda say.

Was she talking about me? Ugh… hope not. (Geez, I'd be so embarrassed.) I opened my eyes to see her looking at Poochyena, loving his belly with her hand. He just seemed completely hypnotized; so much enjoyment of being pampered was visible on his face. She then began to gently stroke the top of his muzzle with one finger. His head moved with her finger in pleasure.

"You're so cute and adorable. You're such a beautiful precious Poochyena," Jocinda told him.

"Poochy," Poochyena sighed back to her.

His tail began to wag slowly, as if he was going to fall asleep if she kept going. His hind feet twitched and his mouth slightly opened as she then put her hand on the right side of his face. She scratched his face as he leaned against that hand and grunted in happiness.

Buizel looked at Poochyena and simply shook his head. He folded his arms and exhaled as he rolled his eyes.

"Hmm," Tucker asked, "A hint of jealousy, Buizel?"

The water Pokémon turned to him and gave him a not amused glare. I was sort of proud of him. The glare looked a lot like me. I briefly thought he was copying me.

"Aw, don't be jealous, Buizel," Jocinda said sweetly, catching his attention, "You're very cute and adorable too."

Buizel suddenly stared dumbfounded at her and stopped in his tracks.

"Bu?" he asked as he blinked in surprise.

"Yes," she replied back, "You are a beautiful precious Buizel as well."

Buizel suddenly looked down as his face lit up bright red. He groaned as he put his paws over his eyes.

"Bui…" is what I heard as he embarrassingly groaned in a high tone of voice.

All of us laughed as he was quick to grab a part of Kaname's coat and pulled it over his face. I could still see him start to grin widely, though.

"Humph," Kaname said observing to Buizel, "It seems you cannot act cool when a girl compliments you. Well, do you think you are cute and adorable?"

Buizel groaned visibly as he looked at me. His eyes had a look of repentance, as if he wished he never had judged Poochyena in the first place.

"What are you looking at me for?" I asked him.

"Bui bu bui bu…" it whined in desperation as it grinned at me.

"Are you wanting me to tell them to stop teasing you?" I asked, knowing the obvious answer.

Buizel nodded. Poochyena giggled as he stared at his orange friend. Buizel gave him a smirk.

"Okay, guys, I think we need to stop teasing Buizel," I said, smiling at the relieved Pokémon.

Everyone laid off as we got nearer to my house. Buizel kept looking at me. He looked relieved and happy. Did I really make him content when I stood up to him? Did he and Poochyena really look up to me?

"You know, I am very impressed, Thomas," Kaname said, "You've only known these two for two days, and already your fear is gone and they seem really fond of you."

"Yeah," I replied exhausted, "Old Man Fellows said that to me too. I don't know how, but I am not afraid of these guys anymore."

"Nervous?" Tucker asked.

"A little," I answered.

We were several feet away from my house as we got into view. I looked at my house as if it were a dream. Man, how I longed to get in my bed and just sleep! I decided I wanted to try and get off of Tucker.

"Hey, Tucker," I said, grabbing everyone's attention, "I want to try if I can get up and walk."

"Okay, man," he replied, "but I am gonna be right there to grab you and carry you inside if you fall again, okay?"

I agreed. He let go of my legs slowly as I took my arms off around his neck. I slowly put my two feet on the ground as my balance was still on Tucker. It was time for the moment of truth. I suddenly pushed gently off him as I awaited for the reward. My leg power was back to normal. Thank goodness.

"Oh, I am very happy you are okay, Thomas," Jocinda said relieved.

Kaname said, "Well, this is probably where we part. Do you want us to set Buizel and Poochyena down so they can walk home with you?"

I thought about it for a moment, and was going to say yes.

"Go on, carry them home."

Whoa! I couldn't believe it! It was that voice in my head again! The same one that prompted me to go to the alcove where I met Buizel and Poochyena! It was back! I shook my head like I was in a trance. My friends all looked at me strangely.

"Yo, Thomas, you okay, man? You looked like you just got burned," Tucker asked concerned.

I looked at all of them and just stared. I glanced at Buizel and Poochyena; they looked concerned as I rubbed my head. I decided to obey the voice again and carry them; after all, if I saved them by doing it, who knows what awesome thing would happen if I did it again?

-


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm fine," I smiled gently at them, "Actually, I was thinking about carrying them home myself, if that's okay…"

I looked down at the **ground** for a second and looked **back up** to see my friends staring in unbelief at what I just said. Suddenly, a smile**streaked** across their faces.

"Dude! Are you serious?" Tucker said excitingly, "You holding Pokémon? I gotta see this!"

Buizel and Poochyena made excited grunts as they looked at me. They started to become fidgety as their tails were violently cutting the wind. They looked at me, begging me to come and carry them. Jocinda and Kaname walked over to me as I nodded.

"First, though," I said, "I need my backpack."

Kaname nodded as he briefly put Buizel down and handed me the backpack. I put it on as it covered the hole in my shirt, which makes me wonder: why didn't I think of putting it on at the schoolyard? Maybe I was just super tired and weak. Then again, Kaname took it; he probably put it on because I didn't have the strength or so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

Anyway, I put the backpack on as Kaname picked up Buizel again. I formed my arms so both of them could place the two little Pokémon on them. Jocinda placed Poochyena on my left arm as soon Buizel was placed in my right by Kaname. Both Pokémon immediately snuggled their heads in my chest and sighed in absolute happiness as they began to smile.

"Oh," Jocinda said placing her hands on her chest, "Thomas, they love you!"

"Ha-ha-ha!" Tucker roared, "I knew one day you'd be alright with Pokémon!"

I grinned as I shook my heads at them. I glanced at Kaname, who hadn't said anything yet. I glared at him; his face was looking towards my direction, but I couldn't tell what he was doing.

"Uh, Kaname?" I asked.

"Thomas," he said, catching me off guard, "Remember how everyone thinks you should be an awesome Pokémon trainer? I am not forcing you to, but if you do, don't you think those two should be your starting Pokémon?"

I gasped when I heard this. Buizel and Poochyena looked at him, and then back at me.

"What's your angle?" I asked, "What are you trying to get at?"

"Well, think about it and hear me out," Kaname replied, "A Pokémon trainer, in order to be the most effective type, needs to have not only the trust, but the friendship of the Pokémon he commands. You already have those two qualities. I am pretty sure that you would have a good advantage in **battling**."

I looked at the two in my arms and looked back at him.

"Are you in cahoots with the old man or something? He said something on the same line to me too," I replied to him.

He smirked and shook his head. I looked at all of them as I was going to say something. Suddenly, a loud voice shattered my ear drums.

"GRR, NOW I KNOW THAT IS IT!" Tucker bellowed, "Thomas, when I get out of school, I want a match with you and these two!"

I was surprised; I mean, I always knew that Tucker wanted to battle me. But now that I actually was acquainted and not terrified of Pokémon, it seemed that it drove him to the point where he absolutely knew he wanted to battle me.

I was going to say something like 'No thanks' or 'I think we should probably wait', but then I could feel intensity; like eagerness flow into my body. I looked down to see that Buizel and Poochyena were looking at Tucker with excitement, anticipation. I couldn't believe it; they wanted to challenge Tucker! I looked at them with pride; maybe…

"Yeah," I said, with excitement, "I'd like that. You'll be the first one I'll take on as a trainer, Tucker."

The redhead jumped in the air with happiness and fists raised. He giggled as he grinned at the others.

"What about us?" Jocinda asked, with me sensing her and Kaname's anticipation rising as well.

"You guys too, but after Tucker," I replied with a smile.

Buizel and Poochyena looked at them and nodded, smiling. Maybe this was the reward for listening to the voice; having my friends acknowledge me around Pokémon and me proving my fear was gone…

"Alright, it's getting late," Kaname said, calming the air down, "Thomas, you should probably go and lie down early this night. Let's go home, everybody."

All my friends nodded as they walked past me and waved good-bye. Before they got too far away, I quickly spun around in realization.

"Guys!" I shouted.

They turned around.

"Not a word of this to anyone, promise? This is between you, me, and Old Man Fellows," I said.

All three nodded with trustworthy smiles as Tucker gave me an air fist pump. As they turned around and walked away out of sight, I glanced down at Buizel and Poochyena. They snuggled their heads into my chest as their tails wagged happily. They looked up at me with those sparkling eyes again. I gave them a satisfied look.

"Now you guys know why I did not want you to follow me out into the city," I said in a fatherly…. No, I said in a older brotherly voice, "I was worried that you could get hurt. But beyond that, I was afraid that people would find out about you and want to capture you."

They nodded as they understood their **disobedience**. I began walking closer to my house near the woods.

"Okay, we're finally here at last," I said cheerfully, "I will help you guys find a place to live so you can make it."

They looked at me with satisfaction as I stepped closer to the woods.

"Don't take them to the woods; bring them inside the house."

Again, that voice in my head. I thought about its reaction to my choice of the woods and reconsidered. Buizel and Poochyena looked at me oddly. I blinked and then changed my mind.

"However", I said aloud, "I told Principal Vicar aloud at the schoolyard I was going to bring you back to the alcove. That means Mr. Pepperridge, Skyler, and the other students heard me."

I looked down at them and said, "I know Mr. Pepperridge; he is very persistent and ambitious. He'd probably come looking for you two at night while you would be sleeping. And, although I don't know him, I bet that Skyler kid may do the same thing as well."

I could tell that Buizel and Poochyena were getting nervous. They looked at each other once they realized what I had said was true. Poochyena began to shiver in fear as it buried its face in my chest. Buizel looked nervously back into the woods as its paws gripped my sweatshirt tightly.

I couldn't just do that to them! I knew of the risk of them getting caught if I took them back to the woods now, and I would be a horrible human being if I shoved them off and said, "Good luck! You guys are strong enough to handle this on your own! Good-bye forever!"

NO!

I would be a hypocrite, especially after telling to Mr. Pepperridge about him being a horrible example of a trainer. Buizel and Poochyena looked back at me and started to breathe heavily. They started to continually shake their heads 'no' at me.

"Bui, bu bui!" Buizel said in a trembling voice, completely on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Chy! Poochy!" Poochyena started to whine, as he started to bury his head into my chest harder.

I tried to tell them to calm down and everything was all right, but then my eyes got caught in theirs. These two were terrified, scared; they… were me…

I just looked into their eyes and I saw me… literally! I am not joking. In their pupils, I saw me, kneeling on the ground, hugging myself in fear. I shivered in fear as I saw myself look up. That version of me was crying, tears streaming down the face.

I understood it now; Poochyena and Buizel's fear of the Mr. Pepperridge and the other humans was a direct reflection of my fear of all Pokémon!

Suddenly, my heart broke open with emotion as I saw myself beg hysterically, "Help me! Don't let them hurt me! Please don't leave me alone! I need you! They want to take me away from you! I don't want to leave you!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

My heart was starting to feel heavy again, like it did at Old Man Fellows' house. But, I felt confused, hysterical, enraged. Was that version of me what Buizel and Poochyena were trying to tell me?

Wait, but the version of me said it loved me…. But… then… did…. Did that…. Did that mean….

Buizel and Poochyena… loved me?

That was it. I made my mind up. I wasn't going to let them be scarred of humans like I was of Pokémon. I saw they were completely at my mercy, begging me not to leave them alone.

"Guys," I shushed them, telling them to quiet down, "please don't cry. Don't be afraid. I am not going to take you to the woods and leave you alone. I would never do that to you."

I gulped as I glared angrily at the forest. It was if the forest was taunting me to bring them into their fears and doom. The forest could burn, for all I care.

Buizel and Poochyena glared at me with total relief and then buried their heads against my chest. 'Thank you, thank you' was felt everytime their heads rubbed back and forth against my skin.

"You do know what this means, right?" my voice trembled as they looked up at me.

I grinned with so much pride, my head could've exploded right there and then. I couldn't believe I found myself saying this.

"It means," I said in an exciting manner, "you guys get to come and sleep in my house!"

They immediately brightened up with happiness as their mouth opened with words of unexpressed **gratitude** and their tails wagged as fast as I had seen them. They just kept talking in their Pokélanguage as fast as they could as they snuggled against me and each other. I felt happy; they weren't mine, but I was as heck sure I wasn't going to let them become someone else's. I quickly rushed to my front door so nobody could see me. I quickly scanned the area. When it was clear, I unlocked the door and in a flash zipped through the front door and shut it behind me with a slam.

-


	13. Chapter 13

I closed the door with a slam using my right foot. As I turned into my house, it seemed like it shined, like I was in Heaven. I was so glad to be back at home after a long day. I looked around as I started to grow weary for my bed.

"Well, here we are," I said to them, "This is my home."

I bent down as they began to look around in amazement. I set them down as they began to slowly creep on the ground. I smiled at them; this was the first time they had ever been in a human **house**, I suppose. Poochyena began to sniff the ground as Buizel stood on his tip-toes and looked around. I smiled slightly as they began to look around the **kitchen**. I decided to leave my backpack on the **kitchen floor**, but before I could, I heard a crash. I looked across the room to see that Poochyena had knocked down the broom near the sink.

He looked at me and smirked nervously. Buizel dropped his head and exhaled, shaking his head. I just glared at him with an amused grin.

"It's okay," I told them, "It's all right. It was only an accident."

I walked over, with my backpack still on my back, and crouched near the fallen broom. Poochyena wagged his tail as I picked it up and stood it up again. I looked at him as he panted with his tongue out.

"See?" I told him, "No harm done."

He grinned at me as I noticed him walking towards me. He made me surprised when he rubbed his head against my leg. He whined lightly as he stood up on his hind legs and rubbed his head against my side. He glared up at me and smiled at me. It made me smirk. He was SO cute. I couldn't help but giggle at him.

This caused Poochyena to get excited and run behind me into the living room. Buizel immediately turned and called after him, probably telling him to slow down and be careful. I wish Buizel had said that to himself…

Right as Buizel turned into the room, he ran right **smack** into my 12-pack soda carton. It was knocked over, as cans rolled across the floor. Buizel immediately put his paws over his mouth and gasped, shocked at what he just did. Poochyena softly chuckled at him. I simply exhaled as Buizel lowered his head in disappointment.

"It's all right," I said, "Just another accident."

I picked up the cans as Buizel bowed his head in apology and said he was sorry. I grinned at him and was surprised at what I did next. I actually placed my hand on Buizel's head! I was shocked, but yet excited and knowing all along I would do it.

Hmm… I wonder if the voice had something to do with this?

I started to just slightly ruffle his fur as he began to giggle. He grinned as his paws grabbed my wrist and slowly tried to pull my hand off his head.

"Bui bui bu…" he said playfully, like he was telling me to stop.

I simply chuckled at him as he blushed. I could tell he liked it, but he tried to act mature and say otherwise. I finally decided to let go as I took my hand off his head. He looked at me and chuckled.

Suddenly, we heard a playful bark. We both looked to the west side of the room near the stairs. Poochyena was rolling on the ground playing with the curtains. He was getting his body tangled in them and biting the edges, pulling on them.

Buizel suddenly became nervous as he ran over to him. He was trying to tell him to stop for each other's safety as he began to reach around his body, trying to pull him away from the curtains. I looked at them and shook my head as I finished putting the soda cans back. I knew what was going to happen; another disaster…

Still, I decided to try and change the unchangeable trouble by warning them, "Hey, guys, you need to be careful around-"

Too late; the top of the curtain rod snapped off the ledge, and the cloth completely fell and wrapped around them. They suddenly began to struggle and pull as I saw forms trying to pull the curtain.

I simply shook my head; this was gonna be a long night. I walked over to them and watched for several minutes. Then, instead of helping them out, I scooping the edges and lifted it up, so they were inside of the curtains like a hitchhiker's bag. They started laughing as they kicked and jerked at the edges.

"I think it'd be best if I carried you up this way," I said grinning amusedly.

Buizel laughed something as Poochyena panted inside of it. I simply chuckled as their little bodies were visible moving in the curtains. I lugged it up the stairs as they enjoyed a "free ride". Uh… hm… I don't know what you call it; has anyone ever ridden in a curtain before…?

-

I was finally done brushing my teeth as I looked at the mirror. My reflection showed a face of wanting mercy. I had counted all the broken items in my household.

Seven.

Seven things had been broken, EXCLUDING all the things I had mentioned. …

First, after I had let Poochyena and Buizel out of the curtain, Poochyena ran around and into my bookcase, sending all of my photos out of the photo album. Second, Poochyena investigated a chair and when he jumped on it, he slid off, due to my journal being there, so now there is a dent on the cover. Third, Buizel went under my bed and stepped on my box of Pokémon toys as a kid and so the box is busted. Fourth, Poochyena had gone into the bathroom earlier and played with the toilet paper, and it went (and I mean it, you have no idea!) everywhere. Fifth, Buizel thought he could bounce on the bed and have a good time, (sure) until he bounced off and pulled the covers off the bed as an attempt to stay on. Sixth, Poochyena played around with my lamp, until he knocked it off and broke it. And finally seventh, they knocked over my family portrait when they were playing 'tag'.

Oy…

(I swear, the ghost of my dad right then was behind me going, "AHAHAHAHAHA!" :3 )

I must admit, a part of me got angry when the family portrait was knocked over. I almost yelled at them. But, I stopped and admitted it was a mistake… like the other nine things they did…

Groan…

Anyways. I had finished getting ready for bed as I came into the room. I looked down to see Buizel and Poochyena just sitting there, looking at me. They were smiling innocently into my eyes as I stared at them, not the least bit amused.

I could tell, by their sparkling eyes and cute smiles, they were trying to get a "Get-out-of-jail-free" card from me, so they wouldn't have the "Holy Smack-down" as I would "beat" them.

(Now, for all of you who gasped about me saying I would beat them, my mom would JOKINGLY say that to me when I was warned of trouble. She never beat me, as I would never do to them. Thank you.)

I gave them "the 'You got to be kidding me' grin". You know… when your mouth is shaped in a frown, yet you're smiling? Yeah, that was me…

I watched them with the grin as Buizel slowly nudged Poochyena. He whispered something, as they suddenly tilted their heads at me, looking even more cute. I rolled my eyes and then continued to bury my face in my hands. Dang it, their plan was working. I decided to just leave them there as I made a bed for them. I took my ruined sweatshirt and placed it on the little pet bed. I had brought it out of storage; when Manectric was alive and an Electrike, he used to sleep in that bed.

"There you go," I said to them, "I made you a little bed so you can sleep on something soft."

Both of the little troublemakers walked over and **sniffed** the bed carefully. They slowly started to curl together as they lay down. Poochyena was happy and wagging his tail as he curled into a ball. Buizel sat down behind him and started to love his back. He stroked the back gently as Poochyena started to talk to Buizel in their native language. He laid on his back, as Buizel slowly petted his belly. They kept on talking as I started to get into my bed.

I looked at them, as suddenly Buizel had a glint in his eyes. He suddenly jumped on top of Poochyena, and began to tickle him! The puppy started to laugh as he squirmed to get free, but his otter friend had pinned it to the ground and taunted him. I don't know what was wrong; if either Buizel was just playing, or Poochyena had said something. I simply smirked at them as Poochyena begged his friend to stop. I heard them rustle…

Wait, I heard a rustle… of leaves… that couldn't be them…

I decided to look outside, since it was obvious it came there. I slowly kneeled on my bed and began to look down. Suddenly, my face went pale and my heart stopped. I gasped as I saw multiple human forms outside behind my house. They had flashlight and were searching for Buizel and Poochyena!

I quickly jumped off my bed and ran over to the two Pokémon tickling each other. I grabbed their paws as they were taken back. I motioned them to be quiet.

"Guys, I know you're playing with each other," I said, "But people right now are outside looking for you. You need to be quiet and stay in this bed, do you understand?"

Both of them immediately turned pale like me and nodded. Poochyena curled up into a ball as Buizel hugged it from behind. They snuggled as Buizel whispered things to him, calming him down. I slowly got back on my bed and watched the humans outside. I immediately recognized one of them. Guess who it was? Of course; Mr. Pepperridge!

I opened the window and looked at them. I must've made a noise or something because everyone turned to my direction and looked at me. Mr. Pepperridge squinted from the light, but soon recognized me.

"Why, good evening, Oliver," he said to me, "how are you this fine night?"

My right eye twitched at the name "Oliver"; I changed it to Thomas now. Stupid…

"Thomas," I corrected him, "Now, care to explain why I have a multitude of people in my back yard?"

Mr. Pepperridge answered, "Certainly, Thomas. A lot of people, myself included, are looking for the Buizel and Poochyena you brought back to the woods. Before I go on, I must apologize for my behavior. How is your back?"

I was stunned; Mr. Pepperridge apologizing? Probably, to suck up so I could tell him where Buizel and Poochyena was… aw, well, I'll take it.

"It's a little sore still," I said, "but I'll deal."

As soon as I finished that sentence, I noticed someone coming up next to Mr. Pepperridge. It was that Skyler kid Tucker warned me about. He had his hands in his pockets again as he looked up at me. I looked back at him, but focused on Mr. Pepperridge so we wouldn't have an awkward moment.

"Well," the teacher continued, "some of us decided that we are going to attempt capturing the two and bring them to the school so they can be used in lessons. They will not be harmed."

For the school? My butt. Mr. Pepperridge wanted them for himself; I wasn't falling for that. I raised an eyebrow as I shook my head.

Then, a woman said, "We can't find them at all. We've checked everywhere here."

Mr. Pepperridge nodded and asked me, "Thomas, please be honest with us here; where are Buizel and Poochyena?"

I looked in the corner of my eye and saw the two looking at me. They shook their heads at me, begging me not to tell them. I motioned them to calm down out of everyone's view and looked at them. Then, I turned back and rubbed my head, pretending to be confused.

"Really? Are you sure?" I asked.

Mr. Pepperridge nodded as he said, "Yes, we've searched all around your house and have found no sign of them."

I suddenly had an idea pop into my head. A smirk formed across my mind as Buizel and Poochyena cuddled against each other.

"You checked everywhere?" I asked, "So, you've checked down in the alcove on the other side of the woods?"

Everyone suddenly started to **talk** amongst themselves. I could tell my plan was working; they didn't search there. I placed my arm on the window pane and rested my face on my hand. I gave a sort of cocky yet tired look on my face.

"Why in the world would we have checked in the alcove?" Mr. Pepperridge asked me suspiciously, "You sound like you are hiding something."

"Me?" I asked in rebuttal, "I promised Principal Vicar I would bring them back, and I did. If you remember, I told him that I would leave Poochyena and Buizel back in the alcove where I met them. That's where I left them."

A man said aloud, "That would explain why we haven't found them yet…"

Mr. Pepperridge asked in confirmation, "So, you left the two little Pokémon there?"

I nodded with a smirk, "Yep, that's what I'm saying."

Suddenly, Skyler stepped closer and looked at me carefully with one eye. It felt like he was staring into my soul as he glared at me. I could tell he was judging me and seeing if I was fibbing or truthful. He then took me by surprise as he talked to me.

"You sure about that?" he asked in a deep and shallow tone.

I had had enough. I was tired, I wanted to rest my sore back, I had two Pokémon who wanted to sleep too, and I was not getting caught now.

"Yes," I said, "That's where I left them. I may have protected them, but that doesn't mean they're mine or I love them. Now, I want to sleep and rest my back. Please, leave my property as soon as you are done searching. Now, good-night, and thank you."

Mr. Pepperridge nodded as Skyler glared at me. Nevertheless, everyone outside started to walk towards the alcove as I shut the window. I had enough of this. I shook my head, and suddenly realized what I had said. I looked over towards Poochyena and Buizel. They looked at me in shock; they were dumbfounded at what I said about them.

Buizel glared at me sadly as Poochyena whined and lowered his head. I suddenly jumped off the bed and sat in front of them.

"Oh, no, no, no," I comforted them, "I really don't mean that! I don't! I had to get them away from you guys! I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me."

I let me head drop and closed my eyes. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I say that? I buried my face in my hands and felt like crying. I felt so hurt that I had hurt someone. I was going to cry until I felt a furry paw on my leg. I brought my eyes out of my hands and looked forward. Poochyena was smiling as he wagged his tail and snuggled against me. Buizel laid down on his stomach and smirked.

"Poochy Poochy!" Poochyena said excitedly, asking me to pet his head.

I ran my hand on his tiny skull; it felt scary, but yet relaxing. I still was nervous, but I was so happy that they weren't angry. Poochyena closed his eyes and started to drift into sleep as I kept on loving his head. I decided to let Buizel in on it as I placed my hand on his back and slowly stroked him.

Buizel said, "Bui! Bui bu," as he rested his head on his arms.

He began to slowly drift into sleep as well as his friend. They sighed as they slowly lay down next to each other. They closed their eyes as Buizel hugged Poochyena. Both of them then drifted off to sleep. I smiled as I slowly took the blanket out of my backpack I gave them. I slowly covered them as they began to snore softly.

I then got up and finally pulled the covers over me as I slipped into bed. The limbs of my body felt like anchors and heavy metal objects, and I couldn't move at all. I took a time to think about everything that happened today. I then was starting to become fearful.

There was no way I could keep protecting Poochyena and Buizel by myself. I mean, they can't stay in my house. First they keep breaking stuff… but, second, what if I go out and someone breaks in to grab them? I looked at them sleeping peacefully and decided that there was only one course of action.

I need help…

-


	14. Chapter 14

The sun rose up on another beautiful day as the spirit of Kilyla City got ready to get back into the swing of things. The sunlight once again started to come up over the trees of the woods behind my home. The sunbeams were able to finally creep through **my window** and into my eyes. I remember I squinted as I kicked my feet in a tantrum. It was morning already? It couldn't be. I didn't accept it! I started to put the blankets over my eyes and try to go back to glorious sleep.

Suddenly, I remembered the little guys in the corner of my room sleeping on the bed I made. I quietly jumped out of my bed and quickly changed into my regular attire. Since I loved my sweatshirt so much, I had actually bought pairs, so I had an extra. After I had finished dressing and tied my **headband**, I slowly tip-toed over to them and looked at them carefully.

Poochyena was lying on his back. He was so cute. His tongue was sticking out of the side of his mouth, and his right ear and paws keep twitching. I giggled as I turned to Buizel. The little guy was on his right side, resting his head on his paws. Both of them slowly rubbed against each other as I decided to wake them up.

I slowly put my hands on Buizel's back and began to pat it. The little guy slowly squinted his eyes as he turned his head to look over his shoulder. He saw my hand and then looked at me with a sweet and drowsy look. He wiped the sleepy seeds out of his eyes and sat up, smiling at me.

"Good morning, buddy," I said to Buizel.

"Bui bu," he said softly and happily.

We both looked at a sleeping Poochyena and chuckled. Buizel signaled me to wait and be quiet. He slowly put his paws on Poochyena's belly. He then started to rub violently all over the belly. Poochyena snorted and then his legs started to move in enjoyment. As Buizel kept on rubbing his belly, his little friend immediately woke up and then playfully started to bite at his paws. Buizel then pulled him up against his stomach and started to poke at Poochyena's face, as the puppy growled, snarled, and tried to bite his paws.

I simply chuckled at them as they stopped. Poochyena looked at me as his tongue stuck out and panted. Buizel was rubbing his back and smiling at me.

I asked, "Did you guys have a good sleep?"

Both of them nodded. I looked at them with an interested look. It did look like they were more energetic. Maybe it was because they were inside a comfy, warm, and **secure** human home. I wondered if my home was the reason they weren't so bushed and tired.

They **started** to get up and do some stretches as I started to walk downstairs. I had to do something about this day. You see, it was a Pokémon holiday; don't ask me, because I cannot remember. But school was out, and Tucker had invited me last week to hang out with them. I had accepted. However, I did not count on the two little guys coming into my life. I couldn't just leave them here, because of someone breaking into my house for them and they'd break my stuff.

I had gotten downstairs as the two Pokémon had followed me. They sat in the living room as I began to tie my shoes. As I got up, I suddenly heard a grumbling noise of a tummy. I looked to see Poochyena look at his belly and back at me with a nervous grin. Buizel giggled as he rubbed his back. I suddenly realized that the little guys were hungry and hadn't eaten anything ever since Old Man Fellows' house.

But there was a **dilemma**. I didn't have any Pokémon food. You know! I was afraid of them? So, I had two little guys who were hungry, and I was stuck in my house trying to figure out how to get them food and go with my friends.

"Hang on, you two," I said, assuring them and their bellies, "I'm gonna give a quick call to someone. Maybe he can get you some food."

Both of them smiled when I looked around and saw my white phone near the TV and couch. I walked over and began to reach for it, when all of a sudden, it rang. I sort of jumped; someone was calling me? I didn't trust it, because of the two Pokémon being here. I turned to them and they immediately saluted me, again it was cute, knowing they understood. I slowly picked up the phone as I placed it to my mouth and ear.

"Hello? This is Thomas," I said.

"Good morning, Thomas," I heard a familiar and friendly voice say.

I was shocked and surprised. To think, HE would be calling me this early…

"Old Man Fellows!" I exclaimed surprised, "I never thought you'd be calling me…"

"Yes," I heard him say, "Well, I came to check upon you today. You see, last night, your sweet friend Jocinda told me about what happened with your incident…"

I should have known. I think I had told one of them to tell him. Can't remember now…. Oh sue me… so this story is linked. FINE! Look and see if I did…

I heard, "I was completely worried and heartbroken that Mr. Pepperridge would stoop so low for those two little precious angels."

I smirked and rolled my eyes; oh, if he were at my house last night, would he have still said that? If his house was wrecked and things broken, would he had said that?

I smiled as he kept going, "So, I came to check up on you… How are you feeling, my boy?"

I chuckled as I said, "My back is completely back to normal. I still have one or two bumps, but I can manage. I just can't believe I saved Pokémon from being hurt!"

I glanced down at the two little smiling Pokémon at me as I continue my conversation. Poochyena had rolled on his back, being so cute and begging Buizel to rub his belly. Buizel accepted this offer, and rubbed gently in circles, making his friend pant in enjoyment. I giggled as I drew my attention back to my friend.

"Hey, Old Man," I said, "Listen, I'm glad you got my attention. I wanted to ask a favor of you. You see, today is a holiday for the others at their school, and I wanted you to see if-"

"I could babysit Buizel and Poochyena for you while you go have fun?" I heard the other side say.

My face immediately went blank… like this 0_0. How the heck did he know that they were there? I was so stunned, I almost dropped the phone. I shook my head as I began to form the words that came to my mouth.

"How did you know?" I asked as I thought of how, "Oh, Jocinda told you?"

Old Man Fellows said, "No, but when she told we about what happened, I figured whether or not you completely trusted the little rascals, you worried that Mr. Pepperidge and some others would come for them."

"They did," I answered, "I had to lie, which I hate to do, and say I did take them back to the alcove."

Look, I do not care about what others try to make me think; a lie is a lie is a lie. There are no such things as good lies. Sure, it is for a good cause, but it is still a sin.

"You're kidding!" he exclaimed.

I replied with a 'no'.

Old Man Fellows said, "I cannot believe he has fallen so far ever since the incident…. Ahem! Well, anyways, Thomas, I would be happy to watch over Buizel and Poochyena for you while you are with your friends!"

I grinned as I laughed. I was so thankful I could count on somebody again!

I giggled in joy, "Oh, thank you, Old Man! You do not know how much this means to me. Hey, I also need some food for them. Could you pick some up?"

When I listened, the phone was making that noise where you just pick it up. I blinked; was that whole call just a dream?

"H-Hello?" I weakly said.

Suddenly, a knock at the door was heard. My heart jumped as I was afraid of who it'd might be. I turned and Buizel and Poochyena were already hiding. I nodded in pride as they smiled at me being content on me knowing they obeyed me. I walked to the door and opened it.

My heart felt so relieved to see Old Man Fellows at my door… WITH POKEMON FOOD TOO!? How thoughtful! I was so relaxed as I laughed.

"You scared me, Old Man!" I laughed.

I let him inside of the house as Poochyena barked in happiness. He immediately ran over to as my friend knelt down to him. Poochyena panted and stood on his hind legs, placing his front paws on the old man and stuck his tongue out. His tail wagged as Fellows rubbed his back and face.

"There's my big puppy! How are you doing this morning?" Fellows said happily.

"Poochy! Poochy!" the puppy barked.

Buizel ran over and waved to the Old Man. Fellows surprised us, by reaching behind Buizel and pulling him towards him. He scratched underneath his chin. The otter started to smile and then smirked, as his head rose up so high, that his nose was up in the air. He folded his arms and tried to act tough, but it soon failed as his tail swished around and he closed his eyes.

"You don't have to act macho around me and Thomas, Buizel. We love your company no matter how you act," he assured.

Buizel finally dropped his tough guy act. He let his arms go limp as he stood there enjoying his chin being scratched.

"Bui bu bu…" he moaned happily.

I giggled at the two Pokemon happy to see the kind old man who helped me with them yesterday. I stood there staring in happiness.

I knew from there on that I could count on Old Man Fellows and the gang to keep this a secret with me.

"Well?" Old Man Fellows said, startling me, "What are you standing here for? Jocinda and the others are waiting for you. Go have some fun! These little guys and I will have some fun."

He turned around and grinned at me. I nodded as I turned around.

"Thanks again, Old Man, I owe you another one," I said with a grin.

He waved it off, telling me not to worry. As he began to open the Pokéfood, I saw Buizel and Poochyena wave good-bye, happily saying it in their language and grinning. I waved to them as I closed the door. I breathed the fresh air into my lungs with my diaphragm and looked up into the beautiful cloudy blue skies. I then stretched, took a deep breath, and bolted as I ran to my destination where Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname was waiting for me.

-


	15. Chapter 15

Hello, again! It's been a while since I last talked to you! Let's see… where was I? Oh, yeah, the amusement park on the **vacation** day.

Anyways, I made my way past what seemed to be millions of people as I hurried to where I was supposed to meet my friends. Many people seemed to notice me; I have a humungous hunch why.

I can hear it now, "THOMAS OLIVER GUNGSTEN PROTECTED POKEMON!? BUT I THOUGHT HE NEVER WANTED ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM! YOU DON'T THINK HE MAY HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME A **POKEMON TRAINER**, DO YOU!?"

Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. But, I was not gonna have any of that. One, I don't need any person teasing about me about it. Two, today was gonna be a great day! I couldn't wait for it!

I made a quick left, and pulled out some money out. 'Two dollars admittance' is what the sign said that I read near the entrance I had gotten too. I paid my toll to the man, said thank you when he let me in, and he smiled at me and said I was welcome. I ran into the park. Geez, talk about seizure attack. I looked around and saw nothing but **flashing lights** and such. The rides looked interesting, though, I gotta tell ya. Flashing lights everywhere! Man, I was so tempted to spend my money right now. However, I had to suck in my inner child and become a adult by waiting to spend my money until I found my friends.

Way before this adventure began and I started telling you my story, we actually had planned for this day. We decided to meet at the twirly cup rides. If you don't know what that is, it's the rides where you sit in these tea cups. There is a **circular** pole with a circular handle, and when you turned it more and more, the cup you sat on would go faster and faster. Anyways, we planned on meeting there.

After walking around for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and…. Zzzzzzzzzzz….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Hm? What? Whoops, I feel asleep… not. Haha! But truth be told, I searched for a HUGE amount of time trying to find my friends. So, I decided to spend at least a buck and pay for a map of the **amusement park**. I looked and by seeing it, I walked around it at least more than four times. I groaned, did a epic facepalm (AND I MEAN EPIC), and walked towards it.

When I got in view of it, I saw my six friends waiting there for me… wait, six? I only had three. I saw Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname standing there with three other teenagers there. I got a tiny bit nervous; they looked like trainers.

The first was a young girl with pink hair that stood out to the sides near her ears and had a bang over her left eye. The pink eyes complimented her hair, and the black-rimed box-shaped glasses added to the display. She wore a simple pink t-shirt, black pants with a purple belt around her waist, and white sneakers with yellow circles on it. She carried a blue handbag on her left right shoulder.

The next one was a young boy with green eyes and brown hair that spiked downwards. I couldn't really see if that was his true hairstyle, because he wore this stylish green and black striped hat backwards. His attire was really simple; a black t-shirt, green pants with a brown belt, and white sneakers with a black design and black Velcro straps. He wore his green backpack on his back.

The last one was a young boy as well who had purple eyes and long black hair that went to his shoulders. He wore a purple long-sleeve jacket with black stripes on the elbows. Underneath it was a black zip-up shirt with a white stripe on the chest. He wore black gloves, blue pants, and black shoes with white Velcro straps over them.

I advanced closer to them when Tucker saw me and ran to me. I smirked as we both fist-pounded each other and he laughed.

"What happened to you? Did your alarm clock fall off the face off the earth or something?" he joked with a smirk.

"Well, excuse me, Mr. Attendance, but this place is like a maze," I protested.

"Attendance? Yeah, right. Tucker just showed up moments before you did, Thomas," Kaname told me.

Tucker gave an annoyed glance back at his friend. Unfortunately, it didn't do much, with Kaname being the lazy and unmotivational one. We all laughed at both of them though. I decided, on the topic, to ask about the others.

"So, who are our new friends?" I asked smiling.

"This is Molly, Lyr, and Purgy," Jocinda said, introducing them in the order I had described them in, "They're trainers that have traveled here for a pit-stop."

"Hi, I'm Thomas," I introduced myself.

"Yo, nice to meet you, bud," Lyr waved, smiling at me.

"The pleasure's all ours," Purgy said.

There was a bit of silence as I blinked. I think it was Molly's turn to say hello. But when I turned to her, she was staring at the lights. Both her friends got embarrassed a bit as Lyr nudged her.

"Molly?" he asked.

"The lights are so shiny!" she exclaimed.

Purgy grabbed her shoulder and said, "Molly! You're being rude; Thomas just said hello to you!"

She turned around and rubbed her head nervously, saying, "Oops, hehe, sorry. Nice to meet you."

"Heh, it's okay," I assured her, waving my hand.

"Please excuse Molly; she has a bit of ADD," Purgy told me.

Lyr did a double take and said, "Little? Hah! More like a whole bunch!"

"Well, if that's the case, I'm sure she'll make excellence friends with Tucker," Jocinda said smiling.

"Eh!? What's that supposed to mean?" Tucker flared up at her.

"Nothing, nothing…" she said smiling.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Tucker investigated.

"Guys, seriously?" Kaname said, "We've got a brand new day at this place. Let's have some fun."

"Shiny…" We heard from Molly again, staring back.

Tucker shook his head and said, "Come on! I'll race you to the cheeseburger stand for lunch!"

As he began to race over there, Lyr's face immediately lit up.

"I love cheeseburgers!" he yelled as he ran behind him.

Purgy watched his friend run off, and then to his friend who kept staring at the lights, and then sighed, doing a facepalm.

"Ugh… I swear it's like babysitting two little toddlers," he complained.

"I feel your pain, friend… it can be such a drag," Kaname said, patting him on the back.

"Oh, don't you dare start!" Jocinda snapped.

"Agreed! Let's go!" I cheered.

After a bit of what was a group cheer, we all ran over (Purgy actually dragged Molly with us) and followed Tucker and Lyr to the cheeseburger joint. After grabbing a bite to eat, we all just did fun things. We went attractions, won a few prizes, saw some amazing Pokémon acts, and so forth. I really enjoyed myself, but still Buizel and Poochyena were in the back of my mind the whole time. I worried if them and the old man were okay. I mean don't get me wrong; I loved every minute with my friends. But, it's like a parent or older sibling thing; when you care and love someone and you're away from them, you just can't seem to get your mind of them. Yet, whenever I thought about them, Lyr or Tucker grabbed me and pulled right to the next attraction.

Well, at about 4:17 pm, we all were getting tired and decided to head back. We all waved good-bye to the entrance people as we were heading back. The exhaustion level was so high from having fun, we were all silent on the way back. However, as we got to the city gates, Tucker broke the silence.

"So, you guys are Pokémon trainers, right?" He asked the visitors.

"Yes, that's right." Purgy said as the other two smiled.

It was then my brain started working as I looked over at my other friends. Kaname and Jocinda nodded to me as I could predict what Tucker's big grin and sparkling eyes said.

"Can we see some of your Pokémon? Please?" he begged.

All three of them nodded as Molly stepped forward.

"I'll go first!" Molly exclaimed as she reached into her bag.

She pulled out a red Pokéball and threw it up into the air. It opened, realizing a huge orange lizard-type dinosaur with wings and a burning tail that had some sort of red-orange gem around its neck. The moment I saw it, my knees buckled in fear. I may have gotten over my fear of Pokémon, but Buizel and Poochyena were tiny; this guy was massive! Jocinda (God love her) immediately saw my fear and stepped in front of me, so I could have some protection. The big Pokémon roared so loud, it made me shiver from how loud.

"Cool! A Charizard!" Tucker screamed.

"Yep, this guy's name is Zard," Molly said with a smile.

"This Charizard is so huge; it's bigger than the normal height of one," Kaname stated, studying it.

Zard smiled friendly and bowed to him. Jocinda giggled at its politeness. I was nervous, but at least I wasn't shaking. It didn't seem to notice my fear.

Lyr waved and said, "Oh! Lemme go next!"

He threw a Pokéball into the air and out came this tiny form of a dog Pokémon with a long mustache and dark-bluish fur.

"Meet my Stoutland, Scout," he prounonced proudly.

Jocinda automatically smiled and said, "He is so cute! Let me pet him!"

With that, Scout stuck out his tongue and licked her hand. She pet him all over his back as he panted in happiness. I smiled as he wagged his little tail. Tucker didn't pay attention, cause he was so attracted by Zard, who by the way was his favorite type. Kaname just waited for the last trainer to go.

Purgy took a step forward and said, "I guess it's my turn. Now, just a warning; I'm sending two out. The reason is that each of them really don't do anything without the other."

With that, he took his two Pokéballs out and threw them up. Two forms showed up. One looked like some sort of tiny mummy, while the other looked like some Roman soldier knight with a lance. They didn't even make a move or gesture; they stood still with their eyes closed.

"Guys, meet Shinja the Accelgor and Shield the Escavalier," Purgy said.

We all looked to see if they were sleeping. I mean they didn't move an inch. Suddenly, Shinja sniffed the air and looked at Purgy. His trainer blinked and then suddenly looked at me with a smirk.

"Purgy?" I asked.

Suddenly, Shield readied itself when it opened its eyes. My friends gasped and I stood in complete total fear, as Shinja and Shield rushed at me and started to attack!

-


	16. Chapter 16

My **brain** sent an impulse to my body as Shield charged at me, using Slash. I barely got out of the way to see Shinja coming at me with Acid Spray. I swear, my eyes got super huge around my **sockets** as I rolled to the right and behind Jocinda, who with Tucker, immediately stopped them from advancing.

"P-Purgy! What are you doing!?" Lyr screamed, surprised.

The boy smirked as he looked at me.

"You can't fool me, Thomas," Purgy said, "Shinja told me you have Pokémon on you. So, come on; let's battle!"

With that statement, Shinja and Shield grunted and advanced closer. Molly and Lyr got excited and looked like they might join in at any moment. I got fearful again; my knees immediately felt weak as Jocinda and Tucker kept their bodies between me and potential pain.

"N-No! Please, wait! You don't understand!" I pleaded.

"ENOUGH," We all heard a bold voice say.

I turned to see Kaname had a serious face. He turned to Purgy and acted like his uncle, being an adult.

"Purgy, tell Shinja and Shield to stand down now," he ordered in a strict voice.

Purgy blinked a few times as he stepped back in shock.

"E-Excuse me?" he asked, sounding quite offended.

"You cannot battle Thomas. He is NOT a Pokémon trainer," he said.

Purgy's face lit up in disbelief as he and his friends turned to me.

"W-What?" he asked.

"It's true," Jocinda joined in, "he doesn't own any Pokémon."

"He isn't even a student at the Pokémon School!" Tucker added.

Shinja and Shield did a double take and looked at each other. Purgy looked at me with confusion. Molly and Lyr slowly calmed down from excitement as their friend shook his head.

"B-But Shinja told me you have a Pokémon's scent on you," he said.

Now, since my friends promised to keep Buizel and Poochyena a secret, they looked at each other trying to come up with an excuse. Me, I had another idea.

"W-Well… you see… the thing is…" Tucker started to say.

"No, it's okay," I said, grabbing everyone's attention, "Let me explain."

So I told the three trainers everything; not just the incident at the school, but the Pokémon stampede incident of Kilyla City. I explained that it had caused me to have fear of Pokémon. While I explained that part, I noticed Shinja and Shield were eyeing me extremely **close**. I don't think they believed me. In fact, I didn't in a certain way, since Buizel and Poochyena had forced me out of it a bit.

"And so, I brought them back to the alcove yesterday. I haven't washed this sweatshirt yet, so that's probably why they can smell a Pokémon," I finished.

"A Buizel and a Poochyena!" Molly exclaimed, "Oh, wow! I wish I had one of those!"

"Molly, you have a Buizel," Lyr said, raising his eyebrow.

"Oh, right. I **forgot**," Molly giggled embarrassingly.

As Lyr shook his head, Purgy turned to me and said, "If that's the case, then I'm so sorry for letting Shinja and Shield attack you. You see, they may be adults, but when they see a Pokémon, they want to battle and won't take no for an answer. Sometimes, they disobey me, charge right at the Pokémon they see, and demand to have a battle."

I looked to see both of his Pokémon stare at me like I was hiding something. Oh great. Did I have to worry about another person to protect the two Pokémon from? Oh boy….

"Shinja, Shield, return," Purgy said as he returned his Pokémon to their balls.

With that, Lyr and Molly did the same with their Pokémon. After a few minutes of chatting, all three trainers revealed they were going to live with my friends while they were here. We made our way from where we were and into the city. As we got to my house's location, I said good-bye and waved to them as they did the same and departed from me.

-

As I got closer to the door, I went over the top three suspects I had to protect Buizel and Poochyena from.

Number one was Mr. Pepperridge. After that incident in the schoolyard, I wasn't planning on going there with Buizel and Poochyena ever again. To start a battle with kids in the area showed he wanted those two badly. I had to be careful of him when I went back to the school for lunch.

Number two was Skyler. I didn't want to really label him as one YET. But if those stories of him from Tucker were true, I couldn't imagine and live with myself what he'd do to those two if he got them.

And lastly, number three was the duo of Shinja and Shield. If what Purgy said was true, then if those two got even a small glimpse of Buizel and Poochyena, I'd have trouble trying to protect them, especially since they looked pretty strong.

But enough of that. I needed some rest.

Now with them gone for the night, I walked up to the front door. Realizing that Old Man Fellows was still babysitting the two, I knocked on the door. I took the time to take a breath and fix one of the sleeves of my sweatshirt before I yawned. Man, what a good day. Now, I wanted to get to sleep.

The door soon opened to reveal my old friend, smiling. He stepped out, unlocked the door, and then shut it behind him.

"Good evening, Thomas," he said cheerfully, "and how are you?"

I stretched with a smile and said, "Doing great, Old Man. I had an amazing day. We even met three Pokémon trainers."

"Well, good for you," he said to me, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Buizel and Poochyena have been dying for you to come back. They've missed you terribly, God bless them."

I sighed with a smile, "I hope they weren't too much trouble. They didn't drive you insane or break anything, did they?"

"Not at all!" he said, "In fact, the whole day they spent with me, showing me a special surprise they were making."

I blinked at the surprise. A surprise? Who was it for? And what was it? I raised an eyebrow as Old Man Fellows smirked at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Sorry, I can't tell," he said, "I'll just let you find out yourself. I'm gonna head in to my house. Good night, Thomas."

With a smile and a bow, I said good-bye as he walked away from the door and to his own house. He walked out of sight as I was confused. The whole day Buizel and Poochyena were planning a surprise? This I was concerned, but had to see. I opened the door, unknowing that this night would change my life forever.

I slipped inside as I shut the door. I yawned as I locked the door for the night.

"BUIZEL! POOCHYENA! I'M BACK!" I shouted.

Immediately, I heard a "BUI BUI!" and a bark.

Soon, Buizel rounded the corner with a grin. His eyes shined with glee as he approached me. I was about to pet him when he did something that made me go into silence. He passionately hugged my right leg. I was so taken. He rubbed his face into my leg as he closed his eyes and smiled. I had never seen him this happy before. He had never done that before. Was something different about tonight?

As I watched him hug me, I heard a playful bark. I looked to my left to see Poochyena put his front paws on me, with his tail wagging and tongue hanging out. He sat next to me and moved his muzzle so it moved my hand. He told me he wanted me to pet him. I chuckled as he smiled at me petting his back and head.

I was really taken back. I never saw these two this loving before. They kept smiling at me, like they wanted me to know something. But, my heart felt different. As if I had known these guys all along my whole life, my heart felt different. I couldn't explain it then, and even now it's hard to put in words. It's like I knew something was gonna happen, but I didn't know what yet.

I smiled as both stood in front of me after the hugging and petting was done.

"Okay, you two," I said, "I had a long day today and I'm tired. So, I can't play with you tonight. I need some sleep, okay?"

Suddenly, Poochyena bit at my heel, grabbing only my sock. He then started to tug on it, like he was trying to get me to walk. I was about to ask him what he was doing when I felt and saw Buizel wrap his arms around my other heel and try to pull me with Poochyena. I blinked in surprise as both unsuccessfully tried to move my feet.

"Guys? What are you doing? Are you trying to get me to go upstairs?" I asked.

Both nodded as they kept pulling. Suddenly, my mind got the concept. They were gonna show ME with SURPRISE. I smiled as I stood up.

"Okay, okay," I said happily, "I'll go upstairs. But I need to put on my pajamas first before you show me anything, okay?"

Both nodded happily as they ran upstairs before me, obviously getting the surprise ready before I got there. I snickered as I walked upstairs. I couldn't wait to see what they did. I hope….

-

Coming out of **the bathroom** with my pajamas on and ready for bed, I took a deep breath as I entered the room. I looked to see Buizel and Poochyena sitting on the bed waiting for me with smiles. Once they saw me, they immediately started jumping up and down on the bed, calling me over to them. I chuckled as I made my way over to them.

I sat on the bed as Poochyena snuggled into me on my left side. What I noticed was behind Buizel was a piece of paper with something on it. He hid it as best as he could from me. Poochyena playfully nibbled on my shirt and pulled on it. I giggled as I saw him pant happily.

"Okay, I'm ready, you two," I said, "Let me see your surprise."

With that, Buizel nodded and grabbed the piece of paper. He walked over to me and sat near my right side. He then handed me the piece of paper.

When I looked at it, it was a drawing in crayons that they had made today. It was a little kid's type of drawing, but it was wonderfully drawn. I loved it as I approved of it, making them both smile and feel proud.

With that, both snuggled into me. The drawing was simple. On the left side were two little heads of a cartoon Buizel and Poochyena. In the middle was a huge red heart. And on the right was a human head.

"Aww, look at this! It's beautiful!" I said, making them happy and their little tails wag, "Thank you! I love it! Let's look at it together, shall we?"

I placed my right pointer finger on the picture near the Buizel and Poochyena head. I smiled as I figured out what it said.

"Let's see… Buizel and Poochyena…" I moved my finger to the heart, "love…"

But as I moved my finger to the human head, I went pale and dead silent. The human was recognizable, but something in my brain couldn't make me get the words. The human drawn on the picture had brown hair and a blue headband…. Sort… of…. Like….

My heart stopped as I struggled to say the words. I started over as I put my finger on the drawing of Buizel and Poochyena.

"B-Buizel… a-and Poochyena… lo… love…."

I was silent yet again as I noticed both of them staring up at me with love in their eyes. They waited patiently for me to say what I meant. But my heart was starting to feel heavy. I was silent as I looked at the human. I knew who it was, but my heart forced me to ask them the question.

"G-Guys…. Who is this… human in this p-picture?" I asked.

I watched in admiration as both slowly took one of their paws and pointed to me. I gasped as I stared at me on the picture. They…. drew me on it. I was… so touched. It was so relaxing and peaceful. It was for the first time I was so touched that I had tears brought to my eyes.

And… now that I think about it, in chapter 10, I stopped referring to Buizel and Poochyena as it and now as he, him, and his. Did that mean that somewhere during then, I started to have… a bond with them?

"B-Buizel and… Poochyena… love…. T…. Th….. Thomas….." I said, making them smile wider, "Buizel and Poochyena… love me…"

I looked at them and asked, "You love me?"

With that, Buizel and Poochyena got right into my chest and hugged me with all their might. I let all the tears fall from my eyes. It was then that my fear of Pokémon had completely shattered permanently. I suddenly smiled the biggest smile I ever had. I looked down at the two Pokémon who had changed my life.

"Well… Thomas loves Buizel and Poochyena," I said, doing something that I never thought I would ever do.

I HUGGED THEM.

I literally wrapped my arms around them and held them close. They snuggled as close as they could and loved on me too. I decided from here on out, these two were mine.

"Guys, from here on out, you guys can stay here whenever you want and as long as you want. I love you two so much," I said as I laid back, "And you guys can sleep with me."

Both gasped with a smile and talked in their Pokélanguage to each other excitedly. They snuggled into my neck as I pulled the covers over us. The light was already off, so we got to sleeping. As I watched the two drift off to sleep, I held them with delight. My life was changed forever. I watched as their little bodies breathed in and out. Their fur felt like a wonderful blanket on my skin. I smiled as I closed my eyes. This was the start of a change of a beautiful story.

-


	17. Chapter 17

Now, I spent a lot of days with Buizel and Poochyena. Realizing this, instead of making this story way too long, I decided to help you with it. Remember the journal I kept in my backpack? Well from there on out, I used it to keep track of all my days with them. So for this instance, this chapter is just journal **entries** of random days. So please, enjoy.

DAY 1:

Today was the beginning of a brand new day. I woke up and had a beautiful stay-home day with Buizel and Poochyena. Both are super cute. I really **love** them. Already, I can sense this is a **good relationship** that will get stronger.

DAY 2:

TODAY I HAD SO MUCH FUN! I loved watching Buizel and Poochyena fool around. It was cute. Buizel had pinned Poochyena down again and just tickled him silly, until Poochyena was barking for mercy. I laughed at them being silly, but then I saw both of them smirk at me. Then they pounced on me and started tickling me all over. I laughed as well as they did. I had such a wonderful time.

DAY 4:

I had sneaked Buizel and Poochyena into my sweatshirt and spent the day over at Old Man Fellows' house. We had a blast; just playing with him; it was like his spirit was revived. Maybe he felt like Flash was alive in a sense. All I know is we had some of the best times we ever had.

DAY 7:

Well, I decided that I would at least tell my friends about it. So, today they came over. Jocinda picked Poochyena and began loving him while Kaname and Tucker played with Buizel. We had fun.

DAY 9:

You know, I've noticed something today. Ever since the school accident, Mr. Pepperridge hasn't at all come over during lunch and bothered me about my path as a potential trainer. Hmm... It's a little suspicious, but for now, it's good news.

DAY 10:

I decided I need to get a "disguise". It's too risky now that Buizel and Poochyena live with me to take them around outside as "me". I need a disguise so when people see me they'll think Thomas did let them go and another trainer caught them. So, I went to the store quickly with my hood up and bought temporary black hair dye and different **clothing**. Hopefully, this will work.

DAY 14:

Today was a sick day for Buizel. He had tummy problems today as he stayed up all night last night. He sadly vomited twice today. So, Poochyena and I spent the day taking care of him. He was sick, but I could tell Buizel enjoyed us helping him.

DAY 15:

It was a sad and mostly concerned day today. Poochyena got an owie today by stepping on something sharp. He was crying pretty badly until Buizel and I hugged him, which helped him and made him smile. I called Old Mad Fellows who came over and helped me clean the wound. We bandaged it and Poochyena went back to **being happy** and playing with Buizel.

DAY 17:

Today, we went to the alcove and spent the day there. I sat on that huge rock that was so tall, my feet didn't reach the sand. What was funny was that Buizel and Poochyena slid under my feet on their backs, so my feet was on their bellies rubbing them. It was so cute and enjoyable. Poochyena was stretching and wiggling around; with closed eyes and an open mouth, he'd try to nibble my toes, but couldn't reach them. Buizel was wiggling around with a smirk on his face as his eyes remained closed. He soon just hugged my foot and I kept rubbing his belly. Soon after a while, both fell asleep from my feet. I chuckled, scooped them up, brushed the sand off their fur, and brought them to bed.

DAY 19:

Today was another stay-home day. We literally just snuggled all day on my bed and watched movies. Although I had enjoyed the time with them, I was a bit nervous. I mean, they were mine, but I still hadn't caught them yet. However, I was afraid to pop the question yet; I was afraid they wouldn't trust or love me as much if I proposed that. I need more time…

DAY 23:

I decided to do it today. I put on my disguise and went to the Pokémart. I bought two Luxury balls and swiftly went home. Tomorrow… tomorrow is the day I pop the question. My heart is so nervous. All I can do is cross my fingers.

DAY 24:

Today, I sat both of them down and got ready. I explained since we loved each other, I wondered if they wanted to be my Pokémon. As I showed them the balls, I told them that I wanted to know what they thought of it. Before I told them they had a choice, they hit the buttons and let themselves get caught. My heart jumped for joy as I sent them out. As they came out, both talked excitedly nonstop in their Pokélanguage and glomped me. I giggled as I knew my life was definitely changed from here on. Buizel and Poochyena were mine forever.

DAY 25:

Today, I decided to have a battle as my first day of being a trainer. I told my friends to bring the trainers to the beach, so they could know now. I wanted to battle Tucker because I promised him, but he wanted me to take on Purgy's Pokémon, Shinja and Shield. It wasn't like I had a choice either, because those two jumped out when they heard I had caught Pokémon. They came out and I sent Buizel and Poochyena out. But the next few seconds was a blur. I couldn't believe it. Buizel and Poochyena had wiped Shinja and Shield completely out. It was like they had been fighting for a long time. They were amazing. After the battle and trying to snap Molly out of her staring at the ocean that was shiny from the sun, we just enjoyed a day at the beach. I could feel a bit of jealousy from Shinja and Shield. … Hehehehehehe….

DAY 28:

Today, I unfortunately was sore. I must've slept wrong, cause I couldn't move at all. However, it was alright cause Buizel and Poochyena took care of me all day. They rolled me on my stomach and rubbed my back with their paws. I blushed at it, but it felt good. Man, I love those little guys. Thank God that I was able to meet them. I still wonder though who that voice was….

DAY 31:

Okay, I don't know about this… but I'm a bit nervous… whenever I go into town for groceries, have lunch with my friends, or to hang out with Old Man Fellows, I feel… like I'm being followed… I don't know how to explain it, but when I turn around, the same people are in the area as me. There's one specific man with a green trenchcoat and a black baseball cap that follows me… ah, well. Maybe I'm just paranoid about protecting Buizel and Poochyena… Yeah, that's it.

DAY 32:

All right; now I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT something's up. The man with the green trenchcoat was following me again today. I know so, because I went to places I don't usually go! I went to the woman's clothing store near First Street, the Barbecue Restaurant near the School, and even went to the City Dump near the outskirts of the city. No matter where I went, the same guy was trailing me in whatever area I went to. That's it! Tomorrow, I'm getting to the bottom of this to protect Buizel and Poochyena; EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!

-


	18. Chapter 18

I was extremely nervous. Today was the day I was gonna test my theory and find out why that man was following me. To make it more effective, I chose to not use my disguise and just go as myself. I told Buizel and Poochyena to stay in the house in my room, so no one could see them. They saluted me (Again, super cute!) and slept on my bed.

I soon shut the door and locked it. Then taking a deep breath, I headed out into the city. I decided to pretend to go back to Old Man Fellows' home. Since that's how the man first followed me before, I slowly looked around, trying to see if he was following me. Not yet. He hadn't shown up.

I walked across the streets a few times. Suddenly! That feeling! I felt it again. I looked over my shoulder slightly to see that man. He was following me again. My heart felt fearful, but I couldn't let him know it. I took a deep breath and walked to Old Man Fellows. I knew he kept following me, but I couldn't let him know I knew.

I had to test how good this guy was. I slowly started to pick **up speed** as I slowly walked faster. I decided to look behind me; no joke! He was starting to jog to catch up to me.

I blinked as I forgot my plan; I became so scared, I just ran. Bolting past people and Pokémon alike, I just ran random **directions**, saying "Excuse me" and "Sorry" as I ran. I thought there was NO way that the guy would possibly follow me now.

Boy was I wrong….

The man actually ran right after me. I started to panic. Was I in trouble? Was he after Buizel and Poochyena? Could he possibly be a thief?

No! I wouldn't let him take them! I won't allow it! I decided first to get this guy off my tail. However, I couldn't shake him off, no matter how I ran or bolted. I had to think of a way to lose him first. And what a coincidence came my way as I ran **close** to it.

It was an alley-way near one of the streets that I was running past. I ran quickly into it and ducked into it. Suddenly, my mind decided to change that plan. I decided instead of running away from the man, I decided to confront him. So, I waited. The man ran closer and closer until POW! I jumped out of the alleyway, pretending I was coming from that direction.

We both collided into each other hard, causing both of us to come to the result of each other falling backwards. I heard a clack of something plastic-like hit the ground. I didn't see what it was, but before the man sat up, I quickly shoved it in my sweatshirt. The man then sat up and rubbed his head. I then quickly acted.

"O-Oh gosh!" I said, with people gathering around us to check what happened, "Are you okay? I was in a hurry; I made a wrong turn and didn't see you coming out! Please forgive me!"

With that, I offered the man a hand as I stood up. He smiled and gladly took it, helping himself up.

"Thank you, young man," he said, "I accept your apology. I hope you have a wonderful day. Good-bye."

With that, the man slowly walked away and people dispersed away from me as I made my way to Old Man Fellows' house. I knew he was maybe a bit angry that I bumped into him, but hey; he was the one stalking me. It was then I looked at him and noticed he started to frantically look around on his own person. It looks like he was looking for something that he lost. Suddenly, I realized what he was looking for was the thing he dropped and I snatched away after the scuffle.

I quickly ducked away from sight of him and quickly took the item out of my pocket to see what it was. It was… a Walkie-Talkie?

Why on earth did a man stalking me carry a kid's toy? I had no idea what was going on. Now, of course, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Everybody knows when you find a Walkie-Talkie, you don't return it back to the owner; you turn the dang thing on and eavesdrop on what it is the conversation is about. So, I slowly turned it on and turned up the volume, listening to what this Walkie-Talkie was used for.

I heard the following conversation on the Walkie-Talkie:

"Where's Jenkins? Why hasn't he reported it?"

"He's not using his Walkie-Talkie."

"What? What happened?"

"He collided into the target. He must've lost it then."

"All right then. Go pick Jenkins up. Someone inform Mr. Pepperridge of this."

MR. PEPPERRIDGE!? H-HE WAS BEHIND THIS!?

I couldn't believe what I had heard from this thing. You mean that teacher had set this whole thing up to catch me with Pokémon? I was out of breath from shock.

I thought of things I could do; anything to possibly do to escape this. Old Man Fellows? No, there's nothing he could do. Neither could the trainers or my friends.

Also, Principal Vicar was out of the question; I mean, I can't just go "whine" to him and get Mr. Pepperridge fired because of that. Plus, the snob would then know that I did it.

The police...? No, no, I can't. First, these stalkers techincally aren't doing anything illegal; they're just following me. And I wanna keep this a low profile. I don't want anyone else to know that I caught...

Suddenly, my face went pale. Oh no! The house! BUIZEL AND POOCHYENA!

I quickly made my way back to my house in the speed of light. Flying past people, I ran to the house as fast as I could. But suddenly I had that… that feeling. I looked behind my shoulder to see there was people watching me.

There were about five of them. They didn't look like famous criminal boss grunts like Rocket or Magma; they were wearing regular clothes. There was three men. One was totally decked in dark clothing with a red skullcap. Another had a purple hoodie covering his face. The other one wore a vest so small, you could see his torso. The fourth was a woman with long brown hair in a ponytail and a leather jacket with tight jeans. However, I couldn't see the fifth one.

They were slowly advancing to me as if they wanted something. Whether it was me or the Walkie-Talkie, I couldn't care less. With that, I turned and ran as fast as I could. The five people then started chase to me. I would've lost them if it weren't for the fact that I slipped on the curb of Sunset Boulevard. When I regained from stumbling, the guy in the skullcap was able to grab my left arm from behind. I looked at him right in the eyes in panic.

"Hey, now, calm down," he said, "I ain't gonna hurt you."

"If you were honest about that, you wouldn't be chasing me!" I yelled as I elbowed him in the chest.

The **man held** his chest as he took a step back. Now, I'm sure he would've been able to grab me again and his buddies would've been able to catch up to help if it weren't for the fact that just as the four ran over at me, we all heard a voice yell.

"SIR! PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THE YOUNG MAN!"

The six of us turned to see three officers and a Luxray walk up and **step** between us. I was so relieved, yet scared at the same time. I mean, it was 5-to-1 with the odds against me. What if the Police believes a lie these guys tell? I started to panic as the officers turned their backs on me and advanced to them, causing the man that grabbed me to back off.

"Mind telling us why you chased and grabbed this young man?" One of the officers said.

Just then, I couldn't stand it. I wasn't gonna risk getting in trouble for something I didn't do. With that, I hit the gas pedal and bolted away from the group. I turned to look over my shoulder after gaining some distance. I could see all of them, including the fif- Wait... that fifth one... was that... Skyler?

Whether it was me slowing down and taking to much time to see if that was in fact Skyler or one of those people giving me away, one of the officers noticed I was missing and looked back to see me leaving. My eyes widened as he turned to me.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE! LUXRAY, PLEASE BRING HIM BACK!" he ordered.

Oh, no way! First, I'm running from a unknown stalker, then a group of people. Now I gotta run from a Pokémon? I gritted my teeth as I heard Luxray chasing after me.

"LUXRAY!" It yelled, ordering me to stop.

Absolutely not! I would NOT stop, not with Buizel and Poochyena on the line. With that, I suddenly felt magic touch me, giving me holy feet as I somehow lost all of them in blinding speed that I could've been faster than an Arcanine! I ran so fast, Luxray was shocked and left in a cloud of smoke. I closed my eyes as I was gasping for air. I kept pushing myself. I needed to to win. I couldn't lose here. I opened my eyes to see I had already entered into my yard and was on a collision course with my front door.

I smashed into the door and laid my head on it. I rested for a few minutes. I couldn't believe it; I ACTUALLY RAN FROM THE COPS! I was like a fugitive. I knew I didn't do anything wrong, but I couldn't just stand there while Buizel and Poochyena were defenseless.

I would've kept on resting, if it weren't for Luxray barking a distance away, calling me to come out. Quickly and rashly, I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and locked the door in five seconds total. I watched from the window hidden to see Luxray run down the road past my house, trying to locate me.

Buizel and Poochyena came downstairs when they heard the door slam. They were about to come and welcome me lovingly and warmly, but I scooped them up in a flash. They were surprised and worried as I ran up the stairs and into my room. As I sat them down on my bed, I grabbed my phone and started dialing the numbers to someone I knew. Once Buizel and Poochyena knew I was in panic, they stayed silent and let me snuggle them into me.

"I need you guys to be quiet… please…" I begged them.

Both nodded to me as they looked at each other. I waited as the phone rang for the person I was trying to contact. Please, oh please, pick up…

Yes!

The phone picked up as the individual said, "Hello?"

"Kaname, it's me, Thomas," I said, "Listen, I know this is sudden, but I need for you to do something for me."

Kaname immediately knew something was up and got right down to business with me.

"Okay, buddy. I'm all ears. What do you need?" he said.

I took a deep breath and said in a disturbed way, "Something... big just came up. I'm coming over with Buizel and Poochyena for lunch. I need you before then to get your uncle to call Old Man Fellows to go over the school then. After that, I want you to get Tucker, Jocinda, the trainers, and all of them to meet me at the table. There's something really bad that just happened and I need help NOW."

-


	19. Chapter 19

I was in a "no crap or nonsense" attitude as I had Buizel and Poochyena scoot into my sweatshirt. Once done with that, I smiled at them as I made them happy.

"Okay, guys, be on your best behavior, okay?" I said, "We're gonna go to the schoolyard and talk to some of my friends about something. Here we go!"

With that, I locked the door once outside and made my way to the schoolyard. As I walked there, things just went off in my mind that made me upset. I mean, Mr. Pepperridge and I went way back in bashing heads against me **going to** the school or having Pokémon. He NEVER did this back then. W-why would he think about doing this? W-Was it because I stopped him in front of the school a month ago? Was it… revenge…?

And now I ran from the Police. Was I gonna get in trouble? Are they right now trying to find me? And if they did... would they... take Buizel and Poochyena away?

My thoughts were caught short when I realized I had got to the schoolyard. I looked up to see all of them; Old Man Fellows, Principal Vicar, Kaname, Jocinda, Tucker, Lyr, Molly, and Purgy. I nodded to them as Tucker waved me over. I walked over and sat down with them. I noticed that no other children were outside.

"Before you ask," Principal Vicar said, "I arranged lunch indoors today, so we could have this **chat** in privacy."

"Well, I've never heard you being so tense before, buddy boy," Tucker said with a confused face, "What's up?"

I took a deep breath as I got ready. They needed to know.

"All right, guys," I said, "this is very serious. It's something that came up of late that I needed help from."

"Thomas, are you okay?" Old Man Fellows said concerned.

"Not right now, I'm not," I replied with a frown, "I'll tell you what it is bugging me. First, I decided to let Principal Vicar know that I have caught and now own Buizel and Poochyena."

With that, I opened my **sweatshirt** and let Buizel and Poochyena sit with us politely. Kaname's uncle nodded as he approved.

"Now, I've been trying to keep these two into a low profile ever since the incident here at the school," I went on, "And everyone here, excluding the traveling trainers, know that Mr. Pepperridge and I haven't been on the best of terms ever since my dad and he met. It also didn't get any better when the incident of the school happened. Do you trainers need to hear it?"

"Nah, it's okay," Lyr said, waving it off, "Principal Vicar told us about it."

"Are you okay? I've had a Hyper Beam to the back before, and that attack kills," Molly said in a loving way.

"Yes, I'm fine, and thank you," I replied, "Anyways, this problem I'm having started about the day before yesterday. I was walking into the city **to start** my daily routine when I noticed this certain man was following me. Now, at that day, I didn't notice. Then, the next day, he followed me everywhere. I even went to ridiculous places that I'd never go to. Heck, I went to the women's clothing store!"

I could've sworn that Molly, Tucker, and Lyr hid a giggle, but I kept explaining.

"So, today, I tested it. I went into the city and he followed me again. I walked, jogged, even sprinted! And the guy was right behind me, running too! So, I ducked into an alleyway and collided into him. When we both fell, he dropped this."

With that, I took the Walkie-Talkie and placed it on the table. Everyone leaned in closer to look at it.

"Is that… a Walkie-Talkie?" Jocinda asked.

"How old fashioned," Purgy said unimpressed, "A mere children's plaything."

"That's what I thought too," I said, grabbing their attention, "but I thought if this guy was carrying it and following me, he must know what it does. So, I turned it on. I heard people talking on it. The man's name was Jenkins, but that's not important. What it said next was he lost his Walkie-Talkie to the "target" and they needed to inform this to Mr. Pepperridge!"

It was then that all of them made gasps and looked around at each other with disbelief.

"M-Mr. Pepperridge!?" Jocinda said in shock.

"You mean that snobby, clean, and neat gentleman you introduced to us this morning?" Purgy asked Principal Vicar.

"The same," the man sighed as he took it in.

"That poophead!" Tucker said angrily, "Picking on my buddy like that! Ooh, that burns me up! I outta kick him where it counts!"

"Behave," Principal Vicar ordered, causing Tucker to heel.

"I honestly can't believe it," Old Man Fellows said sadly, "In all my years of knowing him, to think he'd ever do this… I mean, why would he send people after Thomas?"

I noticed Buizel and Poochyena look at me in concern. They were worried about me. I could tell.

"Well, Thomas said the people referred to him as the target…" Lyr thought out loud.

Molly suddenly gasped and said, "Oh no! You don't think they're trying to kill Thomas, do you!?"

"Now, let me stop you right there," Principal Vicar said, preventing any panic or fear to rise up, "Although he can be easily flustered at times, deep down Mr. Pepperridge is a man of honor and dignity. He wouldn't stoop so low to get revenge."

"Plus," Kaname said, "He's been trying to get Thomas to come to the schoolyard for 8 years. I don't think he'd suddenly switch to bumping him off…"

"Oh, hold on; it gets better," I said sarcastically and then said seriously, "After I heard that and ran back to check on my Pokémon, five people chased after me, and I think one of them was Skyler."

Principal Vicar nodded in an angry way. I could tell this may not have been the first time he had dealt with that kid.

"SKYLER!?" Tucker yelled, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

I shook my head and said, "Nope, and what's worse; the police showed up and tried to make peace. However, I panicked and ran from them. I don't know how, but I ran so fast, I lost their Pokémon behind me. I got home, phoned Kaname, and now we're here. So, now I don't know if I'm a criminal because of this."

Everyone took a huge sigh and looked among themselves.

"Great," Jocinda groaned, "What do we do now?"

"Hold on," Old Man Fellows said, "Maybe if we turned on the Walkie-Talkie…"

"Wait a second," Kaname said as he pulled out a tape recorder, "Turn it on now; I'm recording it, so we can hear what they say."

With that, he took it and turned it on. It was right there and then we heard voices talking.

"We still haven't found Jenkin's Walkie-Talkie yet?"

"Nope, the target must've took it."

"What's worse is we got a report from Hawkins' group. They almost caught him and got it back, but the police jumped in and then the target shot off like a rocket out of sight."

Then a familiar voice said, "Well, I never! This is outrageous! Find him and the Walkie-Talkie at once before he figures out what we're doing!"

All of us looked at each other with widened eyes; that was Mr. Pepperridge's voice! HE WAS BEHIND THIS! My heart felt angry again; was he after Buizel and Poochyena again? That jerk. Why can't he just leave me alone!?

Principal Vicar looked at me and said, "Thomas, I can have Mr. Pepperridge come down here right now and talk with us about this. Do you want me to?"

I looked at everyone, who was staring back at me, as they waited for my response. I glanced down at Poochyena and Buizel, who wondered what I was going to do. It was then I got the perfect idea. I smirked as I looked at them.

"I have an idea. Let me see the Walkie-Talkie," I said.

As Old Man Fellows handed me it, I hit the talk button and said this into it.

"Yeah, hey. This is Thomas AKA the target. Mr. Pepperridge, I did take Jenkins' Walkie-Talkie and I must say I'm not impressed. I want you to come have a little chat with me. No stalkers, no Walkie-Talkies, no nothing. Come down to the schoolyard like a man, confront me face-to-face, and tell me why you're doing this."

-


	20. Chapter 20

With a confident smirk, I set the Walkie-Talkie back down on the table and looked at my stunned **friends and family**. For the first time in my life, I was gonna stand up to Mr. Pepperridge. Buizel and Poochyena were eyeing me somehow; they looked like they were proud and impressed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Tucker laughed, "That outta spin his head around for a while! Nice one, Thomas!"

I sorta laughed myself; I was pretty sure as I still am that Mr. Pepperridge was ranting in his own rich and snobby polite way before he came to see me.

"Thomas, do you want us to leave for a while for you to **talk** with him?" Principal Vicar asked me.

"Aww… and miss him gut that jerk like a Magikarp out of water?" Molly whined.

Just as Jocinda and/or Kaname was about to correct her, I shook my head and said, "No, I want you guys to be here. I don't trust him anymore. I suspect he could try to pull a fast one. Besides, you're his boss, so that would be a way to make sure he stays clean. Old Man Fellows, hold my Pokémon for me."

With that, Buizel and Poochyena jumped into his arms as everyone waited. After a few moments, we saw the one and only teacher, Mr. Pepperridge, walk into the schoolyard. He had that dignity and proper etiquette way about him as he walked in. I stood up and walked towards him. We stood off not in a hateful way, but like a confrontation of arguing kind of way. He took a good look at my friends, including Buizel and Poochyena, and then glanced back at me.

"Well… for an individual requesting a one-on-one talk, I didn't expect others to be in this conversation," he said.

"Says the man who sent multiple people to stalk Thomas," Kaname groaned under his breath.

Unknowing if he was heard by the teacher, I sighed and said, "First of all, I never said this was one-on-one; I said it was a face-to-face conversation. Second, they're all part of this, especially since one of them is your boss."

Mr. Pepperridge blinked in surprise as he looked at **Principal** Vicar. The man waved at him to watch himself in front of him. Mr. Pepperridge nodded and looked at me. He breathed a disturbed sigh and allowed me to **continue** on.

"Now, that I have your attention, I am going to tell you everything that I have been trying to keep a secret for a month. I now really love Buizel and Poochyena. I have caught them and now official own them." I said.

Mr. Pepperridge's face lit up as he saw Buizel and Poochyena and heard that. He grinned joyfully as he looked at me. My facial expression? Not so much. Poochyena was a little nervous, while Buizel looked with a serious face at him.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Just splendid!" he exclaimed happily, "I am very happy for you! Are you suggesting something possible in the **future**?"

"No," I said to his dismay, "I'm not. I am not saying I'm going to join this school, because I'm not."

The man looked me over with disapproval. Tch, like I could care less. He could pound sand for all I care. All that mattered was that we end this argument once and for all.

"Well," Mr. Pepperridge said offended, "One of us just seem to take delight in wasting his talents, doesn't he?"

"Whether I waste my talents or use them is none of your business," I fired back.

Mr. Pepperridge glared at me with distaste. I had enough of his bullying and pestering.

"I have told you repeatedly that I do not want to come to this school and you do not listen or stop. I can't take it anymore," I ranted.

"Neither can us," I heard someone say.

I turned around to see Kaname sit up and looked Mr. Pepperridge dead in the eyes. It was incredible; it was the first time I had ever seen Kaname get angry before. Even Jocinda and Tucker flinched a bit.

"W-What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Pepperridge objected.

"Because we go to school," Kaname said, pointing to him and the other two students, "We can only spend time with Thomas on the weekends and lunch on schooldays. Every day I come here, I look forward to him coming here and spending time with us. However, because of you, we cannot fully enjoy it and we want this to stop."

"Yeah, that's right!" Jocinda joined in, "Thomas has told you from day one he did not want to come here, but you refuse to stop annoying him about it!"

"And you've done it for the past 8 years!" Tucker yelled, "Do you know how long that is!? That's 365 24-hour days times 8! DO THE MATH! THAT'S OVER 2,000 DAYS YOU'VE UNRELENTLESSLY PESTERED HIM!"

"Oh, and now I'm the bad guy!" Mr. Pepperridge fired back, "I'm trying to help him!"

"So, you think you're helping him when you send people to stalk and even chase him around the city?" Principal Vicar folded his arms and said.

"I'm preparing him for the Pokémon world!" the teacher retaliated, "You have to be ready for anything! And to go to school is the proper way and the very foundation of a good trainer! That's how you get a relationship strong with a Pokémon."

"Sorry, but that's not always true," Mr. Pepperridge flinched back as he heard Purgy said that.

With that, the three trainers stood up from the table with the two adults and looked at him.

"What in Heaven's name are you blabbering about?" Mr. Pepperridge said flustered, "Such nonsense! Everyone has to go through the Pokémon School to become a trainer!"

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble," Purgy folded his arms and said, "but the three of us never went to the school."

"WHAT!?" Mr. Pepperridge roared.

Lyr nodded with a smirk and said, "Hehe, yup! And we also disagree with that comment about the school causing the relationships. It's not the case all the time. Sometimes, it happens spontaneously or by a special event happening in the human and Pokémon's lives."

"I mean, take Thomas for instance," Molly said pointing to me, "He saved Buizel and Poochyena from dying, and because of that, their bond grew more and more every day. Just because it's not yours doesn't mean it's not true."

I blinked and thought about that. Yeah, she was right. Our bond did grow a bunch. And I did not ever go to the school to learn about it.

Old Man Fellows said concerned, "Arnold… is this because of your rivalry with Kevin?"

Kevin was my dad's name and my mom's was Nazz. If you didn't know already (or were too lazy to read from the beginning) Kevin and Mr. Pepperridge were rivals until my dad died with my mom and Manectric. But because of Kevin getting Nazz instead of him, maybe… Mr. Pepperridge thought this to be potential revenge? I don't know.

All I know is that Mr. Pepperridge suddenly got the most intense and scariest look I had ever seen on a human face… heck, any face. I immediately looked at Buizel and Poochyena. Poochyena had become a bit scared, while Buizel was ready to jump in front of me and protect me. Luckily, Old Man Fellows held them tight for their safety. I turned back to stare Mr. Pepperridge in the angry face of his.

"I am enraged at this!" he yelled, "I cannot believe this anymore! For years, I've tried to help him become like his parents! I want to see him shine like a true star, yet he always wants to be in the mud! I'VE HAD IT! HE CAN ROT LIKE A CORPSE FOR ALL I CARE! HE'S NOTHING, AN IDIOT, A VERMIN! THOMAS IS A DISGRACE TO ALL TRAINERS AND POKÉMON ALIVE!"

…

I… Did…. He….. Oooh…

All... I can see... is...

RAGE.

GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…..

-


	21. Chapter 21

I didn't know what happened. I was just **consumed** with rage. But something was different. All I could see was red. Like bloody, fiery red. I just glared at the thing who had driven me this far.

It wasn't Mr. Pepperridge at all. I wasn't angry at him, despite his actions. It wasn't even what he said. I mean, yeah, sure it hurt. But "sticks and stones" is my motto to angry, hurtful words. I couldn't **care** about them. What was angering me… was that look…

That cold… dark… hateful look. I HATE IT! Why does everybody look at me that way? I can't stand that look being glared at me! It drives me mad!

I don't know… if the rage… or that red color or whatever it was drove me… but I soon found my right hand form into a fist, and then fly at high speeds. It drilled into Mr. Pepperridge's jaw hard, ending his center of gravity backwards off balance. He fell hard on his back, smashing into the dirt. I'm pretty sure everyone reacted with a gasp and some words, but the rage had blocked my sense of hearing. My teeth gritted so hard that could've broken a few of them, if it were harder. I could sense power somehow going through my body, but I didn't know where it was coming from.

The man I slugged wiped his face and winced at the pain. He would've turned to rant at me, but when he got a good look at my eyes, he cowered in fear at me. I just shook in anger, as I growled.

I screamed, "WHY…? WHY DO YOU ALL STARE AT ME LIKE THAT!? I'M NOT SOME VERMIN OR DISGRACE! I'M THOMAS OLIVER GUNGSTEN, A HUMAN BEING WHO HAS HIS OWN RIGHTS AND LIFE! I AM WHO I WANT TO BE, NOT WHAT YOU WISH ME TO BE! AND NOW, THANKS TO YOU, I RAN FROM THE POLICE TODAY AND MIGHT GET INTO SERIOUS TROUBLE! IT'S NOT ME WHO'S THE DISGRACE TO ALL TRAINERS AND POkÉMON! IT'S YOU!"

I stopped abruptly to hear a scared whimper. I looked over to see everyone surprised at me… and Buizel and Poochyena staring at me in fear…

My rage was scaring them. I realized they were totally terrified of me now. I had… lost their trust… no…. this can't be happening…

I looked down and gritted my teeth. I closed my eyes and yelled something that sent a shock through everyone.

"I am never… COMING TO THIS SCHOOLYARD AGAIN!"

With that, I turned around and ran as fast as I could out of the schoolyard, ashamed and hurt.

I heard a "BUI BUI!" and a "POOCHY!" call after me.

"THOMAS, WAIT!" I heard Tucker yell.

I didn't see back then, but Buizel, Poochyena, my friends, and the trainers ran after me. Old Man Fellows and **Principal** Vicar weren't very supportive, but they did help Mr. Pepperridge up and dust him off.

"Arnold," Old Man Fellows said lovingly, "I know deep down you care for Thomas and want to see him shine. I too want to see him grow with Pokémon. But, pressuring him and stalking him for this long prevents and shoves him further away from the school. You need to accept that Thomas is a different kind of person and learn to live with it. That's what diversity is about."

"Unfortunately, I cannot give you any more second chances, Mr. Pepperridge," Principal Vicar said regretfully, "Consider yourself fired. Your next paycheck will be your last."

As the teacher looked down in shame, the principal took the Walkie-Talkie from the table and hit the talk button.

He said, "This is Principal Vicar, your boss' boss. I know you all can hear me and have yours on. I am therefore ordering Jenkins, Hawkins, and the rest of you to stop this plan now and never stalk Thomas again. And if you do, so help me I will phone the police and get you arrested. I hope I made myself clear. Have a good day."

-

My feet carried me swiftly away as I was torn with emotions. I couldn't believe what I did! I actually slugged Mr. Pepperridge! N-No! I ACTUALLY SLUGGED A PERSON! I had never hit anyone in my life before, not even Tucker when he acted stupid!

**What happened to** me? I never felt this way before. This rage… it wasn't normal for anyone, especially me. I wondered if that red color had to do anything with it. I mean, I lost complete control. When I was angered by that look, everything just zoned out and I could only see Mr. Pepperridge; the thing I was enraged at…

But… I had scared Buizel and Poochyena. What would they think of me? I closed my eyes, dreading that they might've thought I could be abusive to them. I blew it. The looks on their faces… it just tore a hole through my heart to see that my unstoppable rage had sent fear into their hearts… the same hearts that had loved me…

I kept running until… wet. Cold. Water. I looked down to see that I had stepped in the ocean. I looked around myself. It was the alcove near my house. I must've run all the way here without knowing. It felt like the beach was an important place for me. It was where I had saved Buizel and Poochyena from drowning… and they… looked at me… with fear…..

It was then reminiscing that the waves had splashed near my body. However… it wasn't the waves that rolled down my face. My heart felt like someone was tearing it apart with broken arrows. The emotional guilt and pain was starting to be unbearable.

I just stood there with fists clenched, as tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt horrible; sure, Mr. Pepperridge was a jerk, but he didn't deserve me doing that to him. I started to cry, just as I heard footsteps behind me.

"Thomas! Are you okay?" I heard Jocinda ask.

I turned around to see the trainers and my friends walk to me. They were concerned as they approached me.

"Dude, you went through some intense and extreme fire," Lyr said with a frown.

"N-No, I'm not… I just slugged a man in the face in pure rage…" I said, trying not to have my voice tremble.

"Well… it's not like he didn't deserve it…" Tucker muttered, looking away.

Kaname nodded and said, "It's all right, Thomas. You're gonna be okay…"

"No! It's not okay!" I turned around and screamed, shocking them all, "I've lived by all the rules and had a life of decency! Today, I ran from the Police and now I'm probably in huge trouble for it! I punched a man, assaulting him in blind fury! And worse of all, I scared Buizel and Poochyena! I terrified them; I can't stand the looks in their faces I caused! I might have screwed up everything I had!"

I looked down at the sand and started to say, "How could I have done something that was so inexcusable, unconscionable, reprehensible, abhorrent, detrimental, DETESABLE, IMMORAL, THOUGHTLESS, HURTFUL!"

I stopped as I gritted my teeth and clutched my hair out of despair and frustration. I let all my tears fall out of my control as I fell down.

"OH, WHAT HAVE I DONE!?" I screamed.

I curled up into a ball and started to cry frantically. All my friends and the trainers looked at each other with sadness. At that point, there was nothing they could do to cheer me up. I felt so hurt and sick of myself. What have I...

"Bui…?"

I heard the familiar voice speak in front of me. I looked up slowly to see Buizel with a saddened look on his face. Next to him was Poochyena, whimpering as he had his ears down. I felt so ashamed in front of them as I sobbed.

"I'm s-so sorry…" I cried, "I d-didn't… sniff… mean to …. sob… scare you…."

Suddenly, I saw something that made my watering eyes widen in shock. Buizel sniffed and then had tears visible rolling down his face. He walked over to my right and crawled into my lap. He slowly reached for my face, and with his right paw, wiped my right eye of the tears that it held.

"Bui bu, bu bu bui…." Buizel said with a trembling voice as his tears showed more.

Suddenly, I felt a small, cold, and wet tongue lick the bottom of my left eye. I looked to see Poochyena slowly let his own tears fall as he climbed into my lap as well. He then nuzzled his little nose against my face, whimpering as he started to cry.

"Poochy…. Chy…" he struggled to say during his weeping.

It was like they were telling me not to cry. My heart was screaming in emotional torment. I gritted my teeth, as I let a sob out.

With that, both of the bursted into intense crying, as they hugged me around my neck and snuggled their tear-drenched fur into my skin. I simply sat there dazed at what was going on.

"G-Guys… w-what are you…?" I said.

"Don't you get it?" Purgy said, catching my attention as I looked back at all of them smiling.

"G-Get what?" I said, sniffling a bit.

Purgu smirked a bit and said, "The bond you have with Buizel and Poochyena is extremely strong. When the bond between humans and Pokémon become so strong, they can feel what the other is going through. They care for you so much, don't you see?"

Molly nodded and said with a **smile**, "Buizel and Poochyena aren't crying, cause they're afraid of you or you let them down; they're crying, because you're sad and they can't stand to see you this way."

I gasped, as I looked down at my Pokémon. They kept crying, snuggling me as much as they could. My heart was starting to warm up again, as I smiled. I closed my eyes and hugged them dearly and closely. They sniffled and quieted down when I started to shush them.

"Shhh, it's alright now… sniff," I said, "I'm okay now… please don't cry…"

They stooped hugging me to look my in the eyes. It was beautiful. Their eyes shone like diamonds, as they looked at me with love and concern. I petted their backs after I wiped my tears away.

"Thank you, you two. I needed that. Can I see a big smile?" I said, making my friends and the trainers smile.

With that, Buizel and Poochyena slowly formed a tiny fake smile on their faces. I smirked at them as I took both my hands and started to scratch their chins.

"Come on, I know you can smile bigger than that. Let's see a big smile!" I said cheerfully.

In a few seconds of feeling their chins scratched, both closed their eyes and smiled the biggest smiles I had ever seen them do. They moaned in happiness, as they leaned into me and hugged me. I smiled and hugged them back. The others came over and hugged us. It was a good time. I felt revived again.

"Hey, you."

The moment was cut when we heard someone say that. We looked around when we heard the voice again.

"Over here, idiots."

We looked to see someone standing on our left. I blinked in shock as I recognized who it is. Of all the people to interrupt a special moment, it had to be him.

It was Skyler.

He pointed at me and said, "Back away from the Buizel and Poochyena for me. I wanna capture them."

-


	22. Chapter 22

"W-What?" I said dazed for a second.

"Get out of the freaking way," Skyler annunciated in broken English (treating me like a baby… arrgh…).

"Excuse me, but who do you think you are, barging in on us like this and demanding things?" Purgy said with **annoyance**.

"I don't owe you an explanation," Skyler said, pulling out two Pokéballs, "Either move it or lose it."

I blinked in surprise at first, but then had a **steadfast** and stern look on my face as I said, "No."

"Fine, your loss," Skyler said, as he began to cock his arm up.

"W-Wait, stop!" Molly begged.

But by the time she said that, Skyler had thrown the Pokéballs at high speeds straight at us. The intended targets were Buizel and Poochyena; we all knew that. But, I relaxed greatly, for I knew it wouldn't work. As the balls got closer, Poochyena flicked one of them to the side with his nose, as Buizel smacked the other one away with his right paw. Skyler glared when the balls fell to the sides.

"It didn't work?" he said out loud.

"Of course not," Lyr said, pointing to me, "You're too late. Thomas captured them about over a week ago."

"So, you lose!" Tucker said, as he stuck his tongue out and taunted him with his hands.

Skyler smirked and said, "Oh, really? I guess that leads only one option."

With that, he twirled a bit and pulled out a Timer ball and Repeat ball, which made Tucker's jaw drop and cease him to taunt anymore. The boy then threw the balls up, and soon after, they opened and showed the **forms** of Pokémon that Molly knew right off the bat.

"A Gardevoir and an Umbreon…" she stated, "Pretty powerful Pokémon…"

"If I can't have them, I wanna battle them," Skyler said, looking at me, "I challenge you right here and right now."

"What!?" Jocinda said, trying to stop it, "No way! Thomas just went through som-"

"No, it's okay…" I said, smirking as I stood up.

"Thomas…" Lyr muttered, amazed as well as everyone else.

I faced Skyler with a smirk, as he smiled evilly. He was psyched for this battle, I could tell. However, I had my own plan. Now, for those of you reading, don't think I'm gonna hate on him, belittle him, or do something nasty. My plan was to ask a question to **confirm** a suspicion of mine.

"Sure… I'll battle ya… on one condition," I said, making Skyler raise an eyebrow, "I get to ask you a question."

"Okay, shoot," Skyler said, telling me to ask away.

"This morning, a bunch of people who worked with Mr. Pepperridge **chased** me through the city," I explained and then asked, "I could have sworn one of them was you. Tell me the truth. Was it?"

I mean, sure, those stories about him from Tucker were now a bit believable, especially since he just tried to capture Buizel and Poochyena without pause or hesitation. However, he seemed to be a better person than the honor-fallen Mr. Pepperridge. I watched Skyler's face turned to unimpressed changes. He looked at me and shook his head.

"I have no interest in that fool Mr. Pepperridge's games and hatred cycles," he said, "He thinks just because he has Pokémon, it makes him better and more valuable than others. It doesn't earn you respect that you have Pokémon and claim to be the best; you have to prove it."

"Prove it?" I asked.

"When you capture a Pokémon, it's a stepping stone that helps you become greater. The more you train it, they farther it takes you to achieving respect and power," he said, talking in a serious tone.

A stepping stone? Like… to step on the Pokémon's dreams and life to get your own…? No way! That's totally not right! How could he even say that? That was it; this kid was worse than Mr. Pepperridge; he may have been the most vile man I've met, but at least he cared for Pokémon and treated them like beings.

"What are you saying?" Lyr said, obviously insulted by the past statement, "Pokémon aren't things like tools or things you throw away! They're living beings like us, who have dreams, feelings, and lives!"

"You have your philosophy and I have mine," Skyler said with a nod, "I respect yours, so do the same to me. So, are we battling or not?"

"Just cause you ask for it to be respected, doesn't make it right…" Jocinda muttered in a mother-muttering-about-a-child kind of way.

"Anyways," I said, "I'll battle you. Buizel, Poochyena, you ready?"

The two stood happily and saluted me again. Man, that never will grow old. They are SO CUTE! Man, you would fall prey to their cuteness too, if you had them with you. It's like, although we were a team, they treated me as the leader. I smiled and got ready to jump into a battle.

"All right, let me be the ref," Kaname said and walked to the middle of the alcove.

With that, both sides walked backwards and then stopped, showing a gap between us. Now, I am a lover of strategic fighting. I mean, don't get me wrong; I do agree that power is necessary to win battles, but brain over brawn; come on, sometimes outwitting your opponent is the best strategy. If you can control their body and the tide of the match, you win.

So, because of that, I measured the distance between us once we stopped moving. It was thirty feet between us. Enough length to start the match, with the width between us from the grass to the beach. I thought about the advantages; it may be tricky for them to be on the sand, but because we were near the ocean, Buizel had the advantage. Plus, seeing Poochyena run around on it before so easily, I knew this would be okay. Buizel and Poochyena got psyched and ready to do it, as our opponents did the same.

"All right, if you are both ready…" Kaname said, "Begin!"

"All right, show me what you got!" Skyler ordered, as his Pokémon charged at us.

"Okay, here we come," I yelled and pointed at him, as Buizel and Poochyena charged at them as well.

I observed them running to each other and closing the gap between them. Watching their footwork, I noticed they had gotten to twenty-five feet. I decided to launch the first attack.

"Buizel, use Aqua Jet on Gardevoir!" I yelled.

"Bui bui!" Buizel said back, as he started to have water form in front of him.

"Gardevoir, use Psychic on Buizel!" Skyler ordered.

Oh, shoot. Psychic is an attack that picks Pokémon up and can be used from long distances. Crap. Well, it was the beginning of the match; I guess it was okay to afford a mistake. I watched as Gardevoir started to slowly glow more and more. Buizel kept running at her. He was now closing the gap at seventeen feet… sixteen feet…. ! ONE INCH!?

In little more than a second… no, not even a millisecond, Buizel had somehow traveled from sixteen feet to one inch in front of Gardevoir. She became startled that she lost her focus, upon seeing him so close, so fast. Buizel then did as I said and used Aqua Jet. It smashed into her, sending her skidding across the sand.

Everyone was amazed at it, for all they gave out was gasps. Skyler did a double take as I thought about it. There's no way Buizel could've been that fast. Just how fast was my Buizel? I watched him land on the ground and smirk at them. I smiled and became proud.

Just then, Skyler decided to focus his attention for Umbreon, while Gardevoir struggled to get up.

"Umbreon, use Slash on Poochyena!" he ordered.

With that, Umbreon charged at Poochyena. He got his right front paw ready for an attack.

"Poochyena, get ready to dodge and use Shadow Ball!" I yelled.

"Chy!" Poochyena responded as he braced himself to dodge.

Umbreon looked menacing and approached faster. With a lunge, Umbreon swiped at him. Dang, those were sharp. I hope Poochyena wouldn't get too hurt by it if it hit. Just then, Poochyena grinned and suddenly… appeared from behind him! Everyone but Buizel did a double take again, as Umbreon widened his eyes to see his target was out of sight.

With Umbreon still in mid-air, Poochyena opened his mouth and started to form a dark purple ball of Ghost-type energy. After a few seconds, he unleashed the Shadow Ball on his target. Umbreon would've been able to doge it, if it weren't for the fact he was in mid-air. With that, the ball smashed into Umbreon, sending him skidding through the sand next to Gardevoir.

I was amazed; How did Poochyena do that? He didn't know teleport, and he certainly wasn't a Psychic-type. How could these two be so good? They were fast and powerful, in fact more than the time they took on Shinja and Shield. They both smirked and ran to each other. With that, they stood side-by-side and looked back at me.

"Bui Bu Bu!" Buizel said confidently to me and flexed his left arm muscle.

I blinked as I heard what he wanted.

"You… guys want me to sit this out?" I asked.

"Poochy!" Poochyena barked happily.

Everyone, especially Skyler, was amazed at that. Usually, the Pokémon needs the trainer to give them orders, or they become confused, especially if it's a tag or triple battle. But, something told me… something very clear, told me to let them have a chance.

"All right, guys," I said grinning, "I'll let you have fun! Go wild!"

-


	23. Chapter 23

Well, I'm not gonna go into obvious specifics, but you should probably know what the result of the battle ending is by now. Yup, that's right. Buizel and Poochyena had defeated Umbreon and Gardevoir with amazing speed and teamwork. My friends cheered and celebrated as I watched Buizel and Poochyena hug each other in **laughter**. Soon, they ran over to me and glomped me. I laughed as they talked in their Pokélanguage to me.

"Way to go, guys! You were awesome!" I encouraged with a smile.

They kept wagging their tails and talking excitedly. They were really happy that they won another battle. I could tell. I decided to look up at Skyler and congratulate him on a good battle. However, **my idea** was cut short by him angrily returning his Pokémon back. He looked up at me and growled.

"What the heck was that?" he said angrily, scaring the others.

"W-What was what?" I asked, completely **oblivious** to the reasons he was angry at me for.

Okay, sure, I know maybe for losing (such a stinking sore loser), but hey; he's the one who came out of nowhere and attacked my Pokémon. I watched as he snorted in anger and continued.

"Are you honestly expecting me to believe you caught those two only a week ago?" he said, folding his arms.

I blinked in surprise, as I replied, "Y-Yeah, it's the truth."

"Oh, give me a break!" Skyler said, raising his voice, "There is no possible way that's true! Did you not see the skills those two have? Those two ain't no pushovers or rookies. They've obviously been fighting for a long time!"

I looked down at Buizel and Poochyena, who sort of had a blush and sweat drop visible. You know something? Skyler was right. These two weren't amateurs at fighting; it looked like they had been fighting for a longer time. In fact, maybe even longer before I met them. They were in another class… like legendaries.

I was a little suspicious and was thinking about asking them, when we all heard a voice say this.

"Yeah, kid; that's some serious powerful Pokémon if I ever saw them. You got some dang good powerhouses!"

I turned to look and see a teenager, about one year older than me. He had blond spiky hair, blue eyes, and five markings that appeared to look like whiskers on each side of his face. He wore an orange **headband** with a metal plate (similar to the ones worn in the Naruto show I like), but on his metal plate was a Christian cross instead of a ninja village symbol.

He wore a pink leather short-sleeve zip-up jacket with white fake animal fur around the collar and blue flames design on the bottom of it. He had Sasuke-type arm accessories that were white and purple, connecting from his elbow to his wrist. He wore blue shiny shorts with yellow lighting streaks design, frayed and ripped edges on the bottom, and purple belts around the legs. He wore green and red kneepads, finishing up with orange and black Adidas sneakers.

I had never seen this kid before, but obviously the trainers had. Molly immediately ran over to him and hugged him with all her might.

"Matty! I'm so happy you're here!" she exclaimed.

Matty chuckled, as he hugged her back. Soon, Lyr and Purgy came over and gave him hugs too. This Matty must've been an important friend to these three. Before I could talk to him, Skyler had started walking away. He glanced over his shoulder and gritted his teeth at me.

"You'll pay for this, Thomas," he warned, "Mark my words; I'll get you for this."

With that, he disappeared out of the view of my sight. I groaned as I let my head drop. Wonderful! Another enemy I have created! Man, this story just keeps getting better and better. Anyways, my short depression was cut short by Matty patting me on the shoulder. He grinned and giggled.

"Hey, it's the curse of being strong," he said, "Don't let it get to you, okay, bud?"

I nodded as Lyr asked, "So, Matty; when did you get here?"

"I heard you guys were passing through, so I decided to head on here and swing by on you guys," Matty said, and then turning to me, "And who's this?"

**Enter** Intermission here. Hehehhee…

After explaining what felt like an eternity of a recap, Matty blinked at the long story. I mean, who wouldn't? He shook his head and looked at Purgy.

"Dang, bro, he really has gone through some stuff," he said.

"Yeah, but luckily it got solved, Matty," Purgy nodded and agreed.

"Man, I'm tired," Tucker yawned and looked at all of us, "Besides, it's getting late here. Shall we head to our homes?"

"Unfortunately, we have something urgent to share with all of you," we all heard a voice say from behind us.

We all looked behind us to see Old Man Fellows and Principal Vicar walking towards us. They had serious looks on their faces. I wonder if they were gonna be okay. But, that soon turned into huge concern for ALL as Principal Vicar had said that last sentence.

"Uncle? Are you okay?" Kaname asked.

"No, I'm not, and neither is Thomas," the principal replied, making my heart skip, "Thomas, please lead us to your house. I'm afraid you are officially in trouble with the police."

My eyes widened and my grip on Buizel and Poochyena tightened. No, this couldn't be…

"What!? No way! Thomas wouldn't do anything like that! We all know what happened!" Tucker protested.

"Why is the Police getting involved now? What happened?" Jocinda asked.

"We'll explain it once Thomas gets us to his house," Old Man Fellows assured, "Let's go."

Buizel and Poochyena immediately cuddled me, signaling that it was going to be all right. But, no… now was not the time to say that. My emotions were haywire and just getting nervous wasn't helping whatsoever.

My greatest fear had come true; I knew that running away was the bad choice when the confrontation with those people ended up bringing the police over, but I had to protect Buizel and Poochyena. Yet, it was a stupid move. Here I am… A criminal from the law, just for doing things right… what was I going to do?

-


	24. Chapter 24

Well, it was late evening when we had gotten to my house. The crisp and chilly winds had swept through the outside **city streets**. Meanwhile, all of us in my house were nice and cozy…. Well, maybe the cozy part. It was mostly ugly (the circumstance, not a face description, gosh) in the room. I was barely able to speak a word though. The message we received cut through me like a sharp-steeled sword through a weak shield. Matty, on the other hand, was recapping out loud.

"Okay, let me get this straight," he said unimpressed, "Mr. Pepperridge is this rotten jerk who has basically harassed Thomas every day of his life to attend a school."

"That's correct," Principal Vicar said shortly.

"And, so he deliberately did this whole scheme to force Thomas to become a trainer at the school?" Matty asked.

"Correct again," the principal answered.

The boy asked, "Then, he flips Thomas over the edge and gets pummeled and fired."

The principal answered again, "Correct."

"And now, you're telling us," Matty asked, raising his voice, "that this guy just gave false information about Thomas to the police to get him into trouble!?"

"Unfortunately," Principal Vicar said with utter regret, "every word you just spoke is the truth, Matty. Mr. Pepperridge apparently went to the**police** and spread lies about Thomas stealing Buizel and Poochyena from him and the school. He's also claiming he's got those six people who stalked him as witnesses to take him in."

What the heck!? What is this man doing for crying out loud!? Has the world lost its mind? This once **dignified** and moral-loving man has flipped!

"So, now what? Am I gonna get **arrested** soon?" I asked.

Hearing that question made Poochyena whimper. We all turned to see the puppy shake his head 'no'. He was protesting, talking in his Pokélanguage that it wasn't fair for this to happen and that he would never leave me. I felt so sad and honored at the same time. I mean, I didn't want him to get hurt or in trouble because of MY actions, but I felt wonderful that someone was willing to stand up for me.

Buizel sat behind him and hugged him around his belly. He snuggled his face into Poochyena's shoulders. He started talking to him, telling it would be all right and they were gonna stay with me. Poochyena relaxed a great deal, once Buizel started rubbing his tummy and whispering encouragement. I could tell that the otter was the oldest of the two. But I was beginning to think of things…. Things I'll reveal later. Right now, let's get back to the issue.

"Well, currently," Old Man Fellows explained to me, "No, you won't be arrested. That's because of two reasons. The first being the police still have to talk to you and then write a warrant, depending on the conversation."

"The second," Principal Vicar continued for him, "is that we have a ton of evidence against Mr. Pepperridge's claim to make you innocent."

"What is the evidence?" Purgy asked.

"Well, without you kids knowing, I actually reported the Hyper Beam incident to the police the day Thomas "took back" Buizel and Poochyena to the wild," Principal Vicar stated, shocking us kids, "So already, the police are keeping an eye on Mr. Pepperridge. At this point in time, they are leaning towards our side more. So, don't worry about it."

"The second evidence we have," Old Man Fellows winked at me and said, "is that Thomas has more witnesses that he does. He has six people who are on his side, while we have ten witnesses, including the two Pokémon who are being reported as stolen."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Jocinda apologized and added, "but also it's perfectly clear who Buizel and Poochyena love. If they set them down and tell them to choose, of course they'll pick Thomas."

"And, we have the recordings I got from the tape recorder," Kaname said, showing it, "I got everything from the Walkie-Talkie conversation to when Thomas yelled at him."

"Wait, I thought you shut that off," Molly said.

"I never said I turned it off," Kaname smirked, making all of us smile too, "I even have Mr. Pepperridge's own voice saying he's behind all of this and ours proving we were witnesses."

"Excellent," Matty said, "Heh, now there's no way the police will believe him over us."

I looked down once I heard a happy bark. Poochyena was wagging his tail and panting with his tongue out. Hehe, looks like he agreed with that point. Buizel smiled and nodded. I smiled at them and then looked back at the discussion.

"And also, Thomas owns the two Luxury Balls they were caught with. Add that to the receipt he still has in his backpack and the clerk being able to identify him from his disguise, and Thomas is all set to go," Lyr also added.

We heard a sigh from Old Man Fellows. Something told me it wasn't anything to relax about.

"As if things were that easy, Lyr. Right, sir?" Purgy asked.

"Correct," he replied, "If only things were that easy in real life, we'd be celebrating, Lyr. It's easier said than done."

Principal Vicar nodded, cleared his throat, and said to me, "Thomas, at early morning tomorrow, Mr. Pepperridge, Old Man Fellows, some officers, and I will be coming to your house to bring you to the police department, where we will hear both of you at the same time and then schedule a court date to take care of the matter. What do you say, Thomas?"

**Court date**? You mean I was getting sued? For what? Standing up to the man who had relentlessly "stalked" me to the ends of the earth? No way was I going to participate in that. Buizel and Poochyena looked back up at me, pondering about what my next move was.

I took a deep breath and said, "Look, I'm not playing Mr. Pepperridge's game. I'm not going to the Pokémon School."

"Good," Principal Vicar started to say, "Then we'll pick yo-"

However, I startled him and everyone, as I cut him off and said, "But I'm not going to court either about this! I mean, how do I know if Mr. Pepperridge hasn't bribed any of the police with money?"

"Thomas, he wouldn't do that," he said.

"Oh, really? Not after he stalked me with six people?" I asked irritated and said, "No way! I'm not going!"

Everyone gasped when they heard that. Molly sat up and looked at me.

"Thomas, you can't do that! You're gonna in trouble if you try to resist them!" she said.

"The police can't get me in trouble, if they don't know where I am," I said, folding my arms.

Old Man Fellows opened his eyes wider. He was shocked at my statement. Deep down, I knew that he knew what I meant, but a part of him didn't want to believe it.

"T-Thomas… you aren't s-s…. suggesting?" he struggled to ask.

"Yes, sir, I am," I responded with seriousness and determination, "Everyone, please help me pack my things; I am leaving Kilyla City."

"W-WHAT!?" Tucker yelled, as everyone was surprised and listened to me more.

"Well, not permanently," I assured my friends mostly, "I'll just keep away from the island until this incident dies out. Once it's over, I'll come back."

"U-Uh, I don't think that's allowed, is it?" Lyr asked.

"Not necessarily," Old Man Fellows explained, "According to Kilyla City law, unless the police has a warrant for his arrest and are detaining him at the exact moment, Thomas can leave Kilyla City whenever he wants to. Plus, the police here cannot send the information to the main land of wherever he leaves, because it's not enough physical evidence to convict him there."

I nodded with a smirk when Tucker exclaimed happily, "This is perfect! All we gotta do then is pack Thomas up…"

"Sneak him out before anyone notices he's gone…" Matty continued.

"Get him onto a boat…" Purgy continued.

"And then he's home-free!" Jocinda said overjoyed.

Principal Vicar chuckled and said to me, "I knew somehow you were going to make up this sort of emergency back-up plan, so I'm way ahead of all of you. I scheduled a private boat for you and your Pokémon to get out of Kilyla City and into a small alcove of the Hoenn region. I'll escort you there safely with a few of my friends, who happen to be police officers. They'll step in and arrest Mr. Pepperridge or whoever might interrupt it."

I stood up with a grin and said, "All right; we got the back-up plan rolling! Let's get packing and get this thing planned out, ready to start!"

With that, everyone of us gathered in a circle and started to talk about it. What none of us knew is that when I had announced I would be leaving, Buizel and Poochyena both raised an eyebrow and headed upstairs. I didn't know then, but at the time, they started to seriously discuss something between themselves. It was like they knew how to help me and fix this problem, but they didn't want to tell me until the right time. And I hope you readers pay close attention to this paragraph, cause it will become a KEY PLAYER TO THE REST OF THE STORY.

-


	25. Chapter 25

Yawning as I zipped my backpack, I had finished packing and planning with everyone. Everyone was sleeping downstairs, just to make sure nothing fishy happened, while I got a few hours of sleep with my two buddies. I quickly went over the list I made and put in my backpack.

There was dental and physical hygiene stuff, tons of clothes, tons of berries, potions, several Luxury Balls, over two thousand dollars, and the orange and white blanket. That was everything. Now, all we **needed** to have was some rest. It was unbelievably humid that night though, so I went shirtless.

I walked into the bedroom to see Buizel and Poochyena sitting there, waiting for me. They were smiling, but I could see under their covers. They were extremely worried about me. Heck, I was worried too. I mean, what if this plan fails? Then the police will believe Mr. Pepperridge and if not, turn to his favor. I just was so scared. I mean, I also never left the island either. This was going to be a new experience. But good? I didn't know for sure.

Anyways, it was getting late. I flipped off the lights and got into bed. As soon as I sat down and pulled the covers **close**, Poochyena ran into my lap and rubbed his head into my chest. He kept whining in a high tone of voice. I looked at Buizel, who gave me a slight smile and a shrug. I smiled when I picked Poochyena in my arms by his front paws and watched him slowly smile.

"Don't worry, you guys. You'll be safe. I make sure nothing ever happens to you. I love you. I love you so much," I said.

Poochyena sighed and licked my chin. I giggled when I felt the wet coldness of it touch my skin. I don't really know how to explain it, but it soothed me. I opened my arms to both, then with Buizel joining in, all three of us hugged before I pulled the covers open, let them scoot in, and then tried to drift into sleep.

Sadly, that wouldn't be the case. One hour and nineteen minutes in **counting**. That's how long I stayed awake after turning off the lights. I just couldn't **fall** asleep. So much stuff on my mind and I couldn't do anything to figure it out. My mind just hurt so much trying to figure it out too…

I watched the moon shine through my window. Man, it was so beautiful and bright. It lit up the whole sky. I wish the path I'm supposed to take was that easy too… I was about to close my eyes when I felt fur move against my skin for the tenth time.

I looked down to see that Buizel and Poochyena were having a restless night as well. I felt bad. Watching them have a horrible day due to anxiety caused by me… man, I had so much on my plate, and it got dumped on theirs too. I decided to try to rest my head on my pillow and go to sleep.

"Don't sleep just yet… Love them…"

NO FREAKING WAY! IT WAS THAT VOICE AGAIN!

I opened my eyes to look around. Maybe this voice was outside or in my room. I looked outside the window and then all around the room. Nope, the voice wasn't there. But, I had a thought. Whenever the voice told me to do something, when I did it, it resulted in something that benefitted these two. I decided to agree with it again.

I glanced down at Poochyena, who had rolled on his back. He was awake, but his eyes were closed, desperately trying to get some sleep. His mouth was open and his tongue was hanging out. And his paws were in the air. I smirked and slowly put my left hand on his exposed tummy. I then started to slowly rub his belly.

Soon, Poochyena soon closed his mouth and formed an enjoyable smile. He wiggled his tiny body and even placed his hind legs on my stomach. It felt soothing again… no…. no just soothing. Relaxing… calm… amazing… To feel these little pads of his feet on my skin made me smile.

His tail soon began to wag and he opened his tired eyes at me. He saw my smile and mimicked me. He then stretched his little body and began to stand up. I played with him a bit by rubbing faster. The soothing and gentle warm belly of Poochyena felt good on my palm. It was addicting, like a favorite candy or a good video game. Too bad I couldn't take my game consoles with me…

With me rubbing faster, it caused difficulty for Poochyena to stand, because I kept rubbing his belly. But with a silly smirk and determination, he was able to clumsily walk closer to me with a smirk. He playfully growled and soon was able to get to my left shoulder. I was forced to let go of his black and grey furry tummy. His eyes shined brightly and radiantly like crystals in the moonlight. He smiled as he rubbed his nose into my sides and chest, nuzzling my body. I felt so secure with them. I couldn't help but smile at his eyes glaring at me with love.

Then I looked at Buizel. He rolled over in his "sleep" and laid on my stomach with his chin and arm on my chest. A simple "Bui" was sighed out of his mouth as his body felt like a warm fuzzy blanket on my torso. I smirked and brought my right hand to his left cheek. I cradled his face with my palm while my thumb continually rubbed his cheek. He smiled wider and wider, until he yawned. He opened his eyes to see me loving him and gave me a nuzzle on my chest. It made me giggle; to feel that cold little nose on my body.

Suddenly, I realized something; Buizel and Poochyena were approaching me closer. They were pulling themselves up, rubbing their warm body heated fur against my skin. With grins on their faces, they snuggled their little heads into my neck. It felt good, feeling their love on me. It was like taking some of the two softest things in the world and having someone rub them up against you.

I smiled as I realized their foreheads were right next to my mouth. It made up a quick and good decision. I leaned over and kissed both of their heads. I heard a loving sigh from both and watched their tails start to wag happily and faster. They soon brought their heads up with the most cheerful looks on their faces I had ever seen. It made me happy. When you truly love someone, you would do anything to make them happy. And when they are, you feel it too.

Just then, I realized Buizel was approaching my face closer and closer. He closed his eyes and did something that made me blush. He... licked my face. I… I never would have known Buizel would do that. It felt so chilling… and yet… so warm. I loved every minute of it. I watched the little guy smile at me. I had to return the favor somehow. I suddenly realized that there was only one way. I slowly took my hands, put them on his head, directed him closer to me, and then….

I LICKED HIM BACK.

At that moment... I honestly didn't know what came over me. I don't know how to describe it, because I don't wanna make anyone think I'm a psycho or have them uncomfortable… but… it was the most delicious and heart-forming feeling I ever had. Feeling Buizel's fur on my tongue…. It was like… a secret part of me that I didn't know about was coming into place.

Buizel's eyes suddenly got wide after I licked him. Poochyena gasped and looked at him. They began talking in their Pokélanguage again. I, at first, wondered if I did something wrong. But seeing their faces in excitement contradicted that previous thought. I suddenly saw Buizel point at me, but he was looking at Poochyena. Soon, that little puppy came closer to me and licked my other cheek. With that, he waited to see what I was gonna do.

I smirked as I knew exactly what to do. I slowly took my hands, put them on his head, directed him closer to me, and then….

I LICKED HIM BACK.

That feeling came back again. It was so overwhelming. I just felt so loved and loving at the same time. It…. I was starting to feel like I was going to cry soon. It was so… wonderful…. I… just can't explain it. It's indescribable.

With that lick, Poochyena's eyes sparkled as he smiled at Buizel. Buizel's eyes soon sparkled as well when he looked at me with his buddy. I could sense it… the bond between us was getting stronger and bigger. I loved every minute of it… so… palpable… so intriguing… real….

Just then, I blinked to see both of them come closer to me and place their mouths on my face. They were blushing madly with their eyes closed. I was at first worried what they were going to do. Suddenly, I felt their cold little wet tongues slowly move up my face in unison, licking me again. It was then that I couldn't hold back my tears. I could feel their love for me… it was so powerful… for me…. from rescuing them from drowning to now…. I'd do it forever and ever if that meant I got to be with these two.

Both of them sat on my chest with blushing faces, waiting for me to perform my next action. I couldn't stop letting my tears fall. I no longer had any pain or doubts; it was all broken and freed by Buizel and Poochyena. I decided to return their sign of affection one more time. I gently put both their heads together and slowly came closer. As I did, they started to smile wider and their eyes watered up. I then licked both of their foreheads at the same time and nuzzled them.

With that, Poochyena howled in happiness. His tears fell from his eyes. He jumped off me and pranced all around on the bed. Rolling over, pouncing, snuggling into the bed… he was so overjoyed. Buizel sniffed a few times and smiled, as he trembled with joy and tears wet his fur. They weren't crying… they…. I think… they were just so happy and touched by me acting like one of them, they felt like we had truly connected. I felt it too. So close… and yet… we can be even closer. I knew it.

It was then Poochyena came over to us and talked with Buizel.

"POOCHY! CHY POOCHY CHY CHY!" he exclaimed at his friend.

Buizel nodded and with a voice trying to **speak** while tearing up said, "B-Bui…. Bui bu bu bui bu…"

With that, both came to me and hugged me close and tight. I never will forget that embrace. I could feel their emotions, the beating of their hearts, and love for me connect with me. I could feel the urge to snuggle them, as their heads nuzzled into my neck. I slowly wrapped my arms around them, pulling them into my hug. My hands had crossed over themselves so my right hand was on Poochyena, while my left was on Buizel. I then thought of something silly to do. It wasn't mean, but it would be funny to watch. I slid both hands down to where their tails connected to their bodies and started to scratch it.

Now, Pokémon have special nerve points that when rubbed and scratched, can cause them to lose control of their bodies because of the feeling it gives. And around the rears and tails of most Pokémon, there is one of these special nerves. So, when I started scratching there, Buizel and Poochyena immediately clamped their eyes shut tightly and began moaning and grunting in pleasure. They smirked as their little tongues uncontrollably licked their mouths constantly. They soon leaned back against my arms, showing me their faces while I kept scratching.

I laughed so hard at this. Poochyena playfully yipped and growled, while Buizel let out an occasional giggle and grinned widely. Both their tails were going back and forth violently, wagging swiftly. I laughed and they laughed too. Soon after doing this for a while, Poochyena let out a huge yawn, which resulted with me and Buizel watching him and yawning too.

"You guys getting tired?" I asked.

Both nodded, in which by that time the tears around all of our eyes had dried. Well, we were trying to get some sleep. It seems us loving each other got us to that point. It was then, my mind brought to thought of the orange and white striped blanket. My mom said that if you shared it with someone you really loved, it'd make you feel warmer. So, I stopped scratching them. While they collected themselves from the drowsiness, I opened my backpack and pulled it out. For tonight, I'll use it. Then in the morning, I'll put it back.

As they saw me pull the blanket up, they laid on my chest and shoulders; Buizel on my right, and Poochyena on my left. I smiled at them getting comfy.

"Okay, guys, time for bed. Nighty-night," I said cheerfully.

Both of them nodded and closed their eyes, ready for sleep. I placed the blanket over us and closed my eyes too. I noticed though that only in a matter of seconds, Buizel and Poochyena were out like a light. It wasn't the blankets or temperature that made them so warm and cozy; it was the love between us.

I mean, think about it… it was such a dramatic change… like Old Man Fellows said… I was unable to touch a Pokémon, speak or be in the same room with them… heck, even be alive with them… but now… it's all different… to hear them talk to me and play with me…. right now…. To see their little tummies go up and down from breathing… to feel their warm fur against my own skin… to feel the warm air coming out of their little noses against my neck… it… it's such an honor…. And I knew right then for the rest of our lives… the three of us…

The three of us would be together forever.


	26. Chapter 26

"Thomas. Get up. Come on."

I was aroused out of my peaceful sleep by someone shaking me and speaking loudly. In a sleepy-drunken state, I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"W-Who…?" I started to say.

Then I recognized what was going on and saw the person who woke me was Old Man Fellows.

"Get up, Thomas. You overslept. We need to get you going out of here," he said.

"Oh, geez! Thanks for waking me!" I thanked.

I shook my head and hit my face a few times. The pain shooting through the **numbness** woke me up. I looked down to see Buizel and Poochyena still asleep in the orange and white blanket. I gently ripped it off them, stuffed it into my backpack, and got dressed. Once all packed, I rushed over to them and began to shake Buizel gently.

"Buizel, wake up!" I said urgently, "We need to move!"

With that, Buizel shook his head and blinked, waking up. He widened his eyes, realizing we needed to move most haste. We both turned to Poochyena, who was snoring. I tried to shake him gently, but he wouldn't wake up. Dang it; Poochyena is a heavy sleeper.

"Come on, Poochyena!" I said, while Old Man Fellows waited for us.

Nope; still nothing. Just then, Buizel showed me his paw, telling me to stand back. With a big inhale, Buizel used Water Gun. It splashed Poochyena right in the face, causing him to yelp and shoot up onto his feet. He blinked dripping wet and then quickly shook his fur to get it a bit dry. Poochyena nodded to Buizel, telling him thanks and then both got off the bed. Thus with me putting on my backpack, we followed the old man down the stairs and to the others, who were waking up too.

"Dang, is it morning already?" Lyr groaned.

"It is. Now get up," Kaname said.

We all stood up, ready for the day. Well… all except for one **snoring** teenager who was laying limp on the couch like he had been shot.

"Oh, for the love of…" Jocinda groaned.

Tucker… of all the people to slow things down, it had to be him, didn't it? He was still asleep, snoring like a **lumberjack** cutting wood with a**chainsaw**.

"Hmmm... now I do believe those stories about him sleeping during classes..." Principal Vicar folded his arms and **deduced** out loud.

"Tucker, wake up!" Jocinda ordered, "You need to be awake now! We can't afford you sleeping in!"

Tucker waved it off and moaned, "I'll be up in a miiiiiiinuuuuuute…"

A minute is exactly what we didn't have. Tucker, that son of a…. I mean, we're friends still… but at the time, he was pushing his luck.

"Grr, we don't have time for this," Purgy stated. "Let's just go over the details and tell Tucker later."

"No, I got a better idea to fix the problem," I said smirking, and then looking at Poochyena, "Poochyena, be a good boy and wake up Tucker with a friendly hello."

With that, Poochyena showed a devilish smirk and walked over to Tucker. Now, Tucker's body slumped on the couch so badly, his butt was sticking out while on his knees. Because of this, Poochyena leaned over and then opened his jaws. Then, with all his power, he chomped down hard on Tucker's rear.

Tucker's eyes shot open like a bullet going out of a gun from the trigger.

"YEEOOW!" he screamed.

He jumped up to his feet and started doing a silly pain dance, as Poochyena smiled proudly and trotted to me. Buizel and I giggled when he walked over to him. We started petting him gently with smirks.

"Good boy," I chuckled.

He sat proudly, wagging his tail with closed eyes and a smile. Buizel hid his laugh behind his paw. I glanced around the room to see the others either giggle or smirk too. Tucker rubbed his backside and muttered.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" he said in pain.

Despite Tucker's mumblings, Principal Vicar nodded and said, "Okay, now that I have your attention, we are going to go over the plan one more time. Listen very carefully, because after this, we never speak of the plan again."

We all nodded as he then went over the gameplay, "Thomas will say his good-byes and then return Buizel and Poochyena to their Luxury Balls. Once hidden safely, he and I will head to the alcove to meet up with Paul."

"Paul?" Molly asked, "Who is that?"

Principal Vicar answered, "A friend of mine who will be joining us there. He's the man in charge of the small boat that will get Thomas across the ocean and into Hoenn."

"No offense, sir…" Matty asked, "but can this Paul man be trusted?"

"Do not worry, Matty," the principal replied, "Paul has been a friend of mine for over fifteen years. He won't abandon us, not even if a large sum of money is offered to him. Thomas, you can trust him with your life."

I nodded, feeling safe. I didn't care about myself as much as Buizel and Poochyena though. THEY were the reason I'm doing this. I wouldn't let anything happen to them. I watched as Principal Vicar sighed and then continued.

"I won't be the only one accompanying you, Thomas," Principal Vicar said, causing me to be surprised, "There are several undercover cops who are going to go with us. They aren't being bribed or given anything illegal to do this; they agree that you being forced into court over this lie is unacceptable. The reason they're coming is if Mr. Pepperridge or one of his "associates" tries to come onto the boat and stop us, they'll be arrested, giving us more proof supporting you."

I grinned at the idea. Bodyguards... Nice.

"While we do that… Tucker! Kaname! Jocinda!" he said, with my friends looking up, "You are to go to school today and act natural, so you are not to even speak about Thomas in general amongst yourselves. If you were to go with us or call in sick, Mr. Pepperridge will suspect we're up to something."

"Right!" the three said.

Principal Vicar then turned to Old Man Fellows and said, "Fellows, I need you to go to the Police Department when you're supposed to. I need you to act like nothing ever happened. You need to be convincing, because when I come back, we are heading to his house with other officers and Mr. Pepperridge to "retrieve" Thomas."

"I'll do my best, sir," the old man said with a smile.

I raised my hand and asked, "What about my house? What if someone tries to break in?"

"Don't worry," Matty waved to me and smiled, "Us trainers are gonna stay in the house and live in it while you're away. That way, we can keep it in one piece and make sure no one tries to get inside. We'll also be hiding outside when they come. When they leave, we'll slip back in."

"Of course, we will have to work super hard on the one piece thing, especially with Molly's A.D.D.," Lyr smirked, raising an eyebrow at the mentioned girl.

With an embarrassed blush on her face, Molly giggled and said, "I can't help it. Shiny things are so cool!"

Purgy shook his head and said, "Trust us, Thomas; we'll take good care of the house while you're gone."

I sighed a huge relief. My house was in good hands. I trusted Matty, Lyr, Molly, and Purgy. They would take care of everything while I was away. I smiled at them and nodded.

"I know you will," I said.

"All right, Thomas," Mr. Pepperridge said with a smile, "Go ahead and say your last good-byes to everyone. Then, we'll head out."

This was it... I really wasn't going to see these guys for a long time... I decided to at least make it last for as long as I could. I quickly shook the hands of the trainers and said they had my thanks. Then I was face-to-face with Kaname. I already missed his groans and complaints about having to do work. His intelligence and cleverness will get him far in life, I know it.

"Well, this is it, buddy," he said to me, "You be strong. Never back down and always do your best."

We hugged as I said, "I promise, slacker."

I heard him chuckle and say, "I now wish I could've not been so lazy now… and spent more time with you. But, you'll be back. I know it."

"I will… I promise," I said.

With that, I moved to Jocinda. God bless her soul, the poor thing was already crying. She has amazing abilities for caring, sympathy, and love. These attributes will make herself into a good woman one day. That will also affect the people around her.

"I'm gonna miss you!" she sobbed as she hugged me tight, not letting go.

It made tears come to my eyes a bit as I held her and said, "I'm gonna miss you too."

"Promise me you'll be safe… and I'll be okay," she said with a smile.

"I will be okay," I assured her as we broke the hug.

I then turned to Tucker. The poor half-awaken guy was sniffing and gritting his teeth, trying not to show those tears falling down his face. He may be rash and short-tempered, but his energy and drive will inspire Pokémon to have that attitude.

"Yo, Tucker… you crying, man?" I asked, getting choked up by the scene.

"N-No…. sniff…" Tucker said, wiping his eyes and grinning, "just something was caught in my eyes, man."

"I won't forget you, Tucker. I swear I will battle you when I come back. Just promise me your fire will never go out," I said, preparing my hand for our famous fist-pump.

Just then, he surprised me by crying and hugging me out of nowhere. It caught me off guard that I started to whimper.

"A-As long as yours doesn't go out, I'll always burn brightly like the sun! Scorch the world like no tomorrow, Thomas!" Tucker cried, soon having a grin show on his face.

After we were done hugging, I told Buizel and Poochyena to say good-bye to them while I did to one more person: Old Man Fellows. I turned to him tearing up and smiling at me.

"Well… sniff… this is it…" I said, letting tears fall.

Old Man Fellows closed his eyes and said, "I'm so proud of you…. Just look at yourself… a boy who wanted nothing to do with Pokémon… is now going off away from home on a new adventure with them…"

He opened his eyes and said with pride, "Your father…. Your mother…. And Manectric…. All of them would be crying in pride like me right now… at the man you've become…"

They… they would've been proud, wouldn't they? Those words… proud of me… they hit me again so hard. I couldn't help it. My eyes clamped shut as I shook. I just cried so hard, that everyone started tearing up. Old Man Fellows held me in his arms and rubbed my back.

"You're one of the greatest young men I've ever seen," he said smiling.

I grinned and replied, "It's… a-all b… because of you…. You're like the…. grandpa I never had…. Thank you…. for everything…."

With that, we ended hugging and let Buizel and Poochyena have their turn. They were tearing up too; it seems they really had a big liking towards Old Man Fellows too. With all of those exchanges done, I took out Buizel and Poochyena's Luxury balls and returned them.

"All right… this is good-bye…. See you in a while…" I said with a smile.

After waving to all of them and them waving back, I made my way towards the door with Principal Vicar, who was wiping his eyes from the tears he shed. As we opened the door, we saw two men and one woman dressed in casual clothes waiting for us outside. We shut the door behind us once we were outside.

"What's the word?" the principal asked.

One of the men, whose most distinguished feature was long brown spiky hair and blue shades, said to him, "We got Paul's notice. He'll be at the alcove in two minutes. We should head over there and get ready to get the kid on the boat."

With that, Principal Vicar nodded and said to me, "All right, Thomas; It's time we get you off of Kilyla City."

-


	27. Chapter 27

We all started to hurry past my house and behind it into the forest dirt path that led to the alcove. As we got into the woods, I couldn't help but stop and turn around. I looked upon the house that had belonged to my family ever since I was born. Shoot… I already was homesick and I hadn't even left the **backyard** yet…

"Thomas, I know you're torn up about this," Principal Vicar said, placing a hand on my shoulder to **snap** me out of it, "but right now we can't afford time for you to recall priceless memories before you leave. We need to get you on the boat before anyone finds out."

I exhaled deeply, nodded, and followed the group. We made our way down the path, dodging limbs that could whack us in the head and uneven ground that would make us **fall**. Once we got about past half-way, I started to ponder something. I didn't understand, but maybe the others would…

"Excuse me, sir? There's something I don't understand…" I inquired.

"Hm? What is it?" the principal asked.

"Well… I know that the alcove isn't a secret place; tons of people that I overheard in the city before I met Buizel and Poochyena know about it… but… when I think about it, the only people who've ever been in it are me and my parents, including our Pokémon, with the exception of my friends yesterday… why is that?" I asked.

The woman, who had blue long spiky hair and red **lipstick**, smiled and asked, "You mean, you really don't know?"

I blinked as I asked, "Am… Am I supposed to know?"

The other man, whose distinct feature was a scarf of some type around his mouth, said, "Aw, come on, Jenny; just tell the kid already…"

My ears caught that name. Jenny!? The woman with us was Officer Jenny!? I heard so much about her and her success as a upholder of justice.

"J-Jenny…. I-I mean Officer Jenny…" I bowed and blushed, "It's an honor to meet you…"

Officer Jenny chuckled and winked, "The pleasure's all mine, Thomas. By the way, the man in the shades is Officer Pressly and the man with the scarf is Officer Uzumaki. It's a pleasure to help you."

"Thank you, ma'am," I thanked, quite touched at her statement and the two men nodded with smiling confidence.

She smiled and continued, "And now for your question… well, think about it. Your house is the only one that's the closest to the alcove and actually has the path in its backyard. Why do you suppose that is?"

I shrugged as I guessed, "Cause it's my private property?"

"Exactly," Principal Vicar told me.

I took a **step** back by accident in shock. M-MY PRIVATE PROPERTY!? Holy cow… this whole area belonged to me…. AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT!?

"W-Wait, it is?" I asked stunned.

"Haha, yup!" Officer Jenny nodded to me.

"This alcove belonged to your family, Thomas," Officer Pressly nodded and said, "This means that you and the people you allow are the only ones who can come here in the alcove."

"That means if anyone tries to come after you and prevent us from getting you on the boat," Officer Jenny noted, "They can be without a doubt charged with trespassing."

"Wait…" I asked out of a bit of nervousness, "You mean… they could come after me right now?"

"Sadly, yes," Officer Uzumaki regretfully said, "As long as you're on the island, the police can detain you at any moment. And since Mr. Pepperridge seems to be after your Pokémon, he'll want you to be still be on the island so he can get them, if not by law then other means."

"Right," Officer Pressly agreed, "So, if he's really clever, which he is, he's probably going to send some people around your place to make sure you don't go anywhere he doesn't know of, which is why we need to get you off the island."

"But what measures have you taken to make sure he doesn't follow?" I asked.

"Well, for one, we secretly took away his ability to leave the island," Officer Pressly explained.

"What? What'd he do?" I asked in shock.

"Don't you remember?" Principal Vicar said, "The school incident where his Swampert hurt you with the Hyper Beam attack? Not only did I tell the police about it, but we all agreed that his punishment would be his ability to leave the island legally would be revoked."

"The next step is that we brought our Pokémon," Officer Uzumaki stated, "If the stalkers in question come after us, we don't know if they have Pokémon themselves. If they were to send them out to retrieve you, we have ours to protect you."

"And if that fails…" Officer Jenny said sadly, "We have no choice but to use our guns and open fire…"

My eyes widened when I heard that. You mean that they were honestly telling me there was a chance were guns would be drawn and someone's blood might be shed… all over me leaving the island? My heart stopped and my face went pale. Officer Jenny saw my reaction and realized I was taking it the wrong way.

"Oh, not like that!" Officer Jenny said embarrassingly, as she brought the color and relief back to me, "We're not gonna shoot them. We'll use the guns to either scare them off or warn them that they can't come any closer."

"Oh, that's a relief," I sighed deeply, holding my chest.

With that, I realized we were on the sand of the alcove. There was a small transport boat running already and waiting for us on the shoreline. The boat was a simple white boat that looked like it was for fishing and could hold at least twenty-five people. I blinked as I saw a man with a yellow raincoat, blue jeans, black muddy boots, and a huge brown beard on the boat.

Principal Vicar smiled and walked over. The man got off the boat and both embraced in a big hug like long-lost brothers. They smiled as they patted each other on the back.

"Paul, you never cease to amaze me. Thank you so much for helping us out here," Principal Vicar said thankfully.

"Ah, no problem, mi amigo," Paul said, "I was in th' area anyways doin' some fishin'. Besides, you're my best bud. I ain't lettin' you down."

He then looked at me and asked, "This th' kid?"

"Yeah. My name is Thomas," I said with a bow and a smile.

"Well, al'right," he said with a grin, getting back onto the boat, "Pleasure's all mine, now. We better git you off th' island before anythin' bad happens. Let's get you on board. Let's go."

Just then, Officer Uzumaki jerked his head up and said, "Ma'am, I heard a twig snap coming from the forest."

"Dang it, they're right behind us. Orders, ma'am?" Officer Pressly asked.

"We pretend to be taking Thomas off the island due to medical reasons. If they back off, then continue on as usual. If they don't, do the routine we planned on," Officer Jenny said.

Both male officers nodded as Principal Vicar stepped in front of me just in case. He kept his gaze on whatever was coming. I peered around his body to see three men walk out from the woods.

The first man's distinct features was that he had brown spiky hair that stood up with a huge scar across his face. He wore brown clothes in general.

The second was a man with glasses, a long black ponytail, a white dress shirt, brown pants that had overalls on them, and black shoes.

The third… I suddenly gasped; the third one who was wearing a baseball cap was the man with the skull cap that chased me around the city yesterday and had grabbed my arm. If it weren't for the police, he would've gotten me. I backed up as I heard Principal Vicar say something to me.

"Thomas, get on the boat now," he said with authority.

-


	28. Chapter 28

Well, he didn't have to tell me twice. I nodded and backed onto the boat. Paul immediately stepped next to me, just in case. As the men drew closer, the three officers stepped in their way. It was clear that the men didn't know the officers were undercover. The man in the glasses grinned and looked at the boat.

He whistled and then said, "That's a pretty mighty fine boat you got there. Got any room for a few more on it?"

"No, there is no more room on this boat. You cannot get on," Officer Pressly stated.

"This is a private ride, and this young man is the only one allowed on it," Officer Uzumaki agreed.

"Hehe, I'm just kidding with you. We really don't wanna go on the boat," the ponytail man stated.

The man in the baseball cap pointed at me and said, "We actually need to **talk** to that young man in private about some important business. If he can just **step** off the boat for a minute and come with us-"

Not an option. I was not getting off that boat for them. Important business, my foot. They would just haul me away somewhere, maybe to Mr. Pepperridge, where he would steal Buizel and Poochyena and leave me hurt and beaten. My life and my Pokémon's lives were in danger if we stepped off.

"Sorry," Officer Jenny apologized, "but you see, this young man is sick."

"Sick?" the cap man said.

"Yes," Officer Pressly answered, "Apparently, this young man ate a **food** that went bad without his knowledge. It has affected him in a horrible way, that his stomach is not digesting properly."

"If that's the case, why are you making him go across the ocean instead of going to Kilyla City hospital?" the ponytail man asked.

"We already tried that," Principal Vicar said, "but there was nothing that they could do to help him. It was their advice that we take him across the ocean to Hoenn to get a cure."

With that, the two men nodded. Yes! It was sold. I thought for sure that would work. I began to smile when suddenly the **scarred** man started laughing.

"Yeah, right! You think that's gonna fool us?" he screamed, "First off, if the kid is sick, then traveling on the ocean would only make him more nauseous. And even if the hospital really made that decision, they would use an official hospital boat, not some trashy boat that is for fishing!"

"Hey! You leave my boat alone and git outta here!" Paul yelled.

"Uh-oh, it looks like we've got a confrontation on our hands, boys," the ponytail smirked and said, making the officers extra cautious.

Principal Vicar and Paul stayed right next to my side. My heart pounded as I held the Luxury Balls in my sweatshirt pocket. No. I wasn't going back. Those three can't make me.

"I really didn't want it to come to this…" the cap man muttered.

"See, kid? Looks like you're trouble than you're worth," the scarred man said to me in an irritated and quiet-mocking tone of voice, "So, why don't you come with us quietly and we won't cause such a fuss."

His voice… the way he talked down to me… I wanted to punch him in the face so hard. He slowly and annoying moved his pointer finger, signaling for me to come to them. But no. He wasn't getting his way. I wouldn't fall for that.

"Come on…" he said as he kept signaling me to come.

Principal Vicar and Paul stayed **close** to my side as I shook in anger. The officers kept blocking the way as they and the three men stood off. I had had enough that I decided to set them straight.

The scarred man spoke again, "Today, kid-"

"BEAT IT!" I interrupted him, startling all three of them, "You three boneheads think you're so tough and mysterious, trying to come here and get me to come with you! I know for a fact now that Mr. Pepperridge had hired you three losers to get me to stay on this island, so he can steal my Pokémon one way or another! I don't care how much he paid you or how tough of a big-shot you think you are, but you are NOT getting me off this boat. PERIOD."

"Furthermore," I was shocked to hear Principal Vicar add, stopping the scarred man from speaking when he was gonna yell back, "You're trespassing on Thomas' private property. No one is allowed here without his permission. And considering how he just talked to you, I believe that you're not welcome here. That means you're breaking the law."

"Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?" the scarred man said as he walked closer.

It was then Officer Uzumaki cut him off and stood in front of him. The scarred man flinched in surprise and backed off.

"Hey, outta my way, loser," he ordered.

Officer Uzumaki then said, "Sir, I'd recommend you and your buddies put your hands up where we can see them before things get ugly."

The other two widened their eyes and immediately knew who the three officers were. They stayed silent and hoped for the best, praying their buddy wouldn't do something stupid. However, being in a fit of annoyance, the man crossed the line.

"Who the hell do you think you are? What are you, cops!?" he yelled.

"Actually…. Yes, we are," Officer Pressly answered.

As the scarred man widened his eyes in dread, the three officers threw three Pokéballs up in the air. They sent out three flashes, and then an Arcanine, Luxray, and Mightyena appeared, growling at them. Then, the officers removed their clothes to show their uniforms underneath (with the exception of the shades of Pressly and the scarf of Uzumaki).

"We're Officers Jenny, Pressly, and Uzumaki," Officer Jenny declared, "and you three are under arrest for the attempted kidnapping and trespassing on the private property of Thomas Oliver Gungsten. Stand down or we'll be forced to let our Pokémon take you down."

The Ponytail man sighed in regret and then man in the cap turned to the scarred man, who was still in shock, and said, "You and your big mouth, Hareta…"

The scarred man looked down in defeat as all three of them raised their hands in the air. Haha! That outta shut his big mouth for a long time and make him remember that. I watched the three officers restrain them and handcuff them.

As they were about to take them away, Principal Vicar spoke, "Wait."

The officers looked at him as he walked over and said, "Check to see if they have any cell phones or trackers. We don't want them getting even one chance of communicating with Mr. Pepperridge."

With that, the three officers asked their Pokémon to see if they had anything on them. The three Pokémon sniffed all over them and when they found something, directed their noses to it. Once the confiscation was all done, there were three cell phones and a hand-held GPS. Principal Vicar took possession of them.

"This is more than enough evidence to prove Thomas is innocent. Thank you for all your help," he said to the officers.

"It was our honor," Officer Uzumaki assured with a nod.

"Now, let's get these three to the department. Mr. Pepperridge is gonna have a big surprise waiting for him there," Officer Pressly said.

Officer Jenny winked at me and said, "Thomas, I wish you good luck out there and a safe journey there and home again once all things are cleared up. Goodbye."

I said good-bye too as I waved. Thus, the officers took the three men into the woods and disappeared. Principal Vicar stood from his spot, but called to Paul.

"That's all, Paul. Go ahead and start getting him out of here. And thanks again!" he called.

"No prob, buddy!" Paul called back, "Once I finish droppin' him off today, I'll com' back tomorrow and visit you!"

"I'll look forward to that. And Thomas," the principal said with a smile, catching my attention, "Godspeed to you. Good luck out there and do the best you can. And also, say a good-bye for me to Buizel and Poochyena."

"I will. Thank you for everything you've done. I'm in your debt! See you in the future!" I called out with a wave.

He waved back to me, and then a few seconds later, disappeared by walking back into the woods to his job at the school. I smiled and watched him leave. It was then Paul laughed a hearty laugh.

"OHO! So you have a Buizel and Poochyena, do ya?" he smiled warmly at me, "Well, old Paul here doesn't mind 'em bein' out on th' boat now. Feel free to have 'em be out, but just keep 'em in your sights at all times, ya hear?"

I nodded and replied with a smile, "Yes, sir. Thank you for helping me."

"Ah, now don't call me sir, now," he joked with a laugh, "That makes me feel old."

We both laughed as he went to the steering wheel of the boat. I pulled out my Luxury Balls and sent out Buizel and Poochyena. Both of them soon appeared wagging their tails as they looked around. Suddenly, they realized the plan was a success and celebrated by running up to me and hugging my legs. I grinned as I knelt down and picked them up in my arms.

They cheered as I laughed, "We did it, guys! We're free!"

"All right! We're shovin' off! Next stop: Hoenn!" Paul yelled happily to us as the boat slowly left the shoreline and into the ocean.

Buizel, Poochyena, and I watched as the island of Kilyla City get smaller and smaller. Sure, we missed all our friends that we made a bond with. But, we knew that one day we would come back again and be there to stay. I watched it disappear as my Pokémon and I then turned to look at the vast blue sky and the beautiful sparkling ocean that stood between us and the greatest adventure in our lives.

-


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: While you guys are reading this awesome story I was wondering maybe you guys can tell me what you think about it by reviewing? I would really appreciate it.**

I felt the breeze of the ocean air go across my face. I closed my eyes and took a big sniff of it. Ahh, so refreshing. I smiled when I relaxed my body. I was sitting on a chair near the front of the ship. I heard a playful bark as I opened my eyes to see what it was.

I looked to see Buizel and Poochyena play-wrestling each other. I laughed at the sight of Buizel getting Poochyena into a headlock and noogieing him. The puppy had his mouth wide open, trying to raise his head to nibble on the otter's paw. He soon was able to slip his head out of Buizel's grasp and tackle him down. By pinning his arms down with his paws, Poochyena had trapped Buizel's arms and captured him on the ground. The otter struggled, but was at the mercy of his puppy friend.

It was then Poochyena slowly put his face closer to Buizel's and nibbled all around it. This caused Buizel to **start** giggling and squirm all around to get free. But wherever his face moved to, Poochyena was right there to playfully nibble it. The puppy playfully growled as he kept this up. I laughed at the site; it was just so cute and hilarious.

I then heard Paul say, "Thomas, we will arrive there in several hours, ok?"

"Several hours?" I asked respectfully, "No offense, Paul, but didn't you say that exact things several hours ago?"

"Indeed, I did, boy," he said, "but a ocean's journey from your island there to the region of Hoenn is a complete day's journey. We won't be gettin' there until tonight."

I widened my eyes at that comment. Tonight? Wow, that is a far distance from our home to one of the main lands. I sighed and nodded.

"All right, thank you," I thanked Paul.

He waved it off happily as he went back to transporting us to the Hoenn region. I went back to watching Buizel and Poochyena **play** around. Buizel kept getting his face nibbled, no matter what he tried to do. Finally, he tapped the deck, showing he gave up. Poochyena stopped**biting** his face and began licking it. Buizel smiled as he was able to get his arms free and hug Poochyena.

As the two cuddled, my mind brought to thought the things I wondered earlier. It was things I couldn't figure out about Buizel and Poochyena. The first off was being their amazing speed and fighting skills. Wild Pokémon don't just have master-like qualities in fighting. And even if they did, do you know how rare it is to **find** a strong wild Pokémon? They didn't just train together; they must've gone through some intense stuff to be like that.

Which sort of ties into my next question. Why were they so terrified of me when we first met? I mean, wild Pokémon aren't completely horrified when they encounter humans… well… I hope not. But, they seemed so surprised that I actually **saved** them from drowning. Were they expecting me to hurt them? Maybe… they belonged to another trainer who was abusive and left them under those rocks like that. I don't know…

And although Kilyla City isn't an official route city of any of the regions, it's rare that a Buizel and a Poochyena would be on the island. I mean, those breeds' locations do not include Kilyla City. And it would be impossible for Buizel to have swam this whole distance from whatever region to the island with Poochyena on his back. Where did they come from? How did they get in my alcove?

And then there's that mysterious voice that kept telling me to do things in my head. That never happened at all before I met Buizel and Poochyena. And when I did all those things, Buizel and Poochyena were safe and happier. Did this voice have some connection to them? Would they even know about it if I asked them?

Now, don't think for even a millisecond that I'm doubting my love for those two; I'd die to protect them. But although we were family, they were just as mysterious as they were loving. Things just didn't add up.

I watched them play more and more as the day progressed into evening. The sky started to go from sky blue to midnight blue with the clouds being substituted for stars. The air started to get colder as I could see my breath. However, the weather wasn't fazing me out of my thinking.

I was so determined to find out who these two small but incredibly powerful Pokémon really were. I mean, they knew all about me, because Old Man Fellows told them while I was outside crying that day they followed me into the city. I felt like it was my turn to learn more about them. I then nodded to myself. When we arrived on shore, before we found a place for the night, I would ask them about who they were.

-

Well, the moment after I decided that, we were three hours away from our destination. But since it felt like a breeze going by, I'll fast forward to us landing there.

Anyways, we had arrived on shore and come to a stop. Paul had turned off the boat motor and opened the boat so my Pokémon and I could leave. The two little guys playfully ran towards me, as I held my backpack and walked near the exit. Before I got off, I turned to Paul.

"Well, this is your stop now. You better run along and find a place to do some sleepin'," Paul said with a smile.

"Thanks, again," I replied, smiling too, "Lemme guess; you'll be the guy who'll take me back when it's time?"

"Wahaha! You know it, Thomas," he laughed, "Well, I promised that principal that I'd be back in th' mornin'. So, I'm headin' back now."

"You drive safe, okay?" I said, saying good-bye.

"Yessir, I will. G'night, now, and to you two too," Paul said to us all, as he went back to the wheel.

Buizel and Poochyena waved good-bye as I did too. And with a few moments passing, Paul waved back and the boat started up and out again. And with a few minutes, it was out of sight.

I didn't know what city or town or heck even route we landed on. But, finding our location wasn't my top priority. I looked down at the two Pokémon, who were sniffing and looking at their new surroundings. It was time. The time to ask those questions.

I got really nervous fast. I mean, what if they thought I didn't trust them by asking it? Then again, we're family; we tell each other the truth. My mind was ready, but my voice and confidence was being held back. I slowly opened my mouth and then noise came out.

"H-Hey…. Buizel? Poochyena?" I asked.

Both turned around to look at me when I said their names.

"I… I wanna ask you a couple of questions…." I said nervously.

Both smiled and walked closer to me, as I knelt down to them. Sweat started to form. Dang it. Why was it so hard to ask these questions? My heart was pounding, my hands shaking; everything was so rattled. But yet, I swallowed it all and asked my questions.

"Were… you guys somebody else's Pokémon?" I asked.

Both of them blinked and shook their heads.

I then said, "But… those skills you have… you obviously got them somewhere. And your breeds aren't in Kilyla City anywhere as wild Pokémon. How did you get to the island? Where did you come from? There's so much I don't know about you that I wanna learn."

Suddenly, the eyes of both Buizel and Poochyena got big. Poochyena gulped loudly as Buizel rubbed his left arm. They both looked at each other nervously. That was definitely a clue; they were getting a bit anxious. They were hiding something from me. And, in a non-hurtful way, I wanted to know what exactly it was.

"Come on, please?" I asked, "I promise I won't tell anyone. It's just I wanna gain more and more of your trust until… well… until we're connected."

Both perked their heads up and looked at me with the most surprised looks ever. I wondered if I had touched them again. I smiled as I nodded.

"That's right," I said with a grin, "I wanna know what it's like to be like you. I wanna know how you Pokémon feel, how you walk, talk, do everything. I wanna learn everything about what it's like to be a Pokémon. And I'll do whatever you tell me to do, because I trust you. I trust you with everything I am and I love you so much. So, please… tell me what to do…"

With that, I was shocked to see Buizel and Poochyena get the most excited they ever had been. Buizel immediately grabbed Poochyena's shoulders and started talking.

"BUI! BUI BU BU BUI BU! BUI BU BU BUI!" he yelled excitedly.

With that, he let go of the puppy and let him run to the shoreline. Poochyena sat down on the sand and readied itself. With a huge breath, it howled the loudest I ever heard a Pokémon howl. It was so loud that even I had to cover my ears. He repeated it about three times before he stopped. He stood up and Buizel walked over next to him.

I stared dumbfounded at this. What just happened? I asked them a set of very important questions, and all it resulted in was Poochyena almost breaking the sound barrier. Did I do something wrong?

"Guys?" I asked, "What's goi-"

I was about to finish my question when Buizel signaled with his paw for me to be quiet and come over. I was a little taken back after that; a Pokémon telling his trainer what to do? If that was the case, it must've been important.

I then walked over and stood next to the two. I watched the ocean tide ripple towards us from every wave. We stood there for about several minutes. I was about to say something to them when something spectacular happened.

From out of nowhere, a bright light flashed, catching my eyes and temporarily blinding me. I grunted and rubbed my eyes to the best of my ability. When I opened them, my knees buckled out of awe. I stared dumbfounded again as I couldn't move or say anything.

For in front of me… right above the waves… was Jirachi, the Legendary wish-making Pokémon, smiling at me.

-


	30. Chapter 30

Jirachi smiled and waved a friendly hello to me. It talked to me telepathically as I couldn't even blink.

"Hello, Thomas," it said.

Suddenly, I flinched in response. I recognized that voice. I got excited as I pointed at it.

"You! You're that voice in my head that has been telling me to do stuff lately!" I yelled in realization.

"Hehe, yes. That was me," Jirachi said happily, "Sorry if I scared you because of that. It's not often you get a strange voice talking to you in your head, now is it?"

"Yeah… I guess.. wait, how do you know my name?" I asked, "And why did you choose me?"

"Haha, I can't tell you all that, silly," Jirachi said, "At least, not right now. But, what I can tell you is that Buizel and Poochyena have made a wish."

A wish? Those two? I glanced down at them, as they looked back at me. With cute smiles, they closed their eyes and listened quietly as Jirachi kept explaining.

"You see, Thomas," it continued, "I'm here to tell you a secret about them."

"A secret?" I asked.

"Yes," it said, "You see, the reason that Buizel and Poochyena were on Kilyla City… is because they are not of your world."

Not of my world? You mean aliens? Like… out of our **solar system** alien Pokémon? I blinked in surprise and looked up at the sky. I got sweatdrops of anxiety; oh, Lord, please don't let there be some alien Pokémon invasion, because they can't find these two. But, my fears were cut with Jirachi's laughter.

"No, silly," it said, "I mean, they come from a world where Pokémon talk in **English**, but humans are a legend and don't exist there."

So, that's why those two were afraid of me when we first met. They had never seen a human before, and considering how trapped they were, it must've been very scary. Then again, I was terrified of them back then, so it cancelled each other out.

"I also come to tell you that I heard what you said," Jirachi especially caught my attention with that sentence, "And what you said was so impactful that Buizel and Poochyena made a wish immediately after you said that."

"Really?" I asked curiously, "What was the wish?"

"I can't tell you, or it won't come true, silly," it replied, "but I can't grant it without something. And it requires you **to complete** it."

I blinked as I asked, "Me? What do I have to do with it?"

"You said that you trust Buizel and Poochyena with everything you are," Jirachi said, "Well, this wish is going to test that. You see, in order for it to work, you need to trust Buizel and Poochyena with everything. Any doubt will forbid it to work. With that being said, this wish requires a great deal of trust and could potentially **cause pain**. Therefore, I will ask you…"

Jirachi came closer and asked, "DO YOU TRUST BUIZEL AND POOCHYENA?"

P-Pain? You mean, this wish could physically hurt me in some way? But… Buizel and Poochyena wouldn't do that or allow that to happen to me… would they?

I looked down at the two Pokémon as they watched me. Both were hoping and praying that I would. They excitedly breathed in and out as their eyes never left me. I looked down and closed my eyes. I thought long and hard… heh, NOT. Of course, I knew what my answer was!

I looked up with a grin and said, "Yes, I trust them with my life. I knew the moment we said to each other 'I love you' I could trust on these two. I'll follow wherever they take me. I'll do whatever needs to be done. I would be nothing and lonely if I lost them now. Let the wish be made; I'm not afraid."

It was then that Buizel and Poochyena cheered and ran around happily, excited from what I said. I giggled at them with a grin; I knew that they trusted me from what I've done. Now it's time to let me put my trust in them. I nodded to Jirachi as it smiled.

"Congratulations, Thomas," it said happily, "The wish has been fulfilled. Now, all that remains is only three steps. Are you ready for the three steps?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Step one: Give Buizel and Poochyena anything you do not want to lose," it said.

Anything I don't want to lose. Okay… were my things going to be destroyed? I didn't understand fully… but if this would make Buizel and Poochyena's wish come true, then I would do it. I took off my backpack and began to rummage through the necessary things I needed.

I decided that the things that would go would be the orange and white blanket and my headband. Those were the without-a-doubt stuff that couldn't be replaced that I needed. I untied my headband from my head and face it to Poochyena. He held it in his mouth as his tail wagged happily. I folded the blanket and gave it to Buizel. He held it in his arms as he smiled at me. I let the bag away from all of us and then looked at Jirachi, signaling that I was done.

"Step two: with this stick, draw a circle around yourself and do not leave it no matter what," it said, giving me a small tree limb out of nowhere.

Okay, this was getting a little weird. But hey; a legendary Pokémon said it, so I did it. It wasn't perfect; it looked more like an oval or a failed circle that you try to make perfect with that compass math tool. Anyways, I completed it and then tossed the stick to the side.

"Final step: keep your eyes closed while I count to three; only then, can you look," Jirachi instructed.

Um… okay… here it goes. I stood perfectly still in the circle I had drawn and gave on last look to Buizel and Poochyena. I smiled and nodded to them, as they did the same. I then took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"One…" I head Jirachi count.

This was it. The mysterious wish was gonna come true. I got tense thinking about what it could be. But no matter how tense I got, I didn't move from my spot or open my eyes. Excitement started to course through my bloodstream.

"Two…"

I could feel the wind on my face, the excited murmur of Buizel and Poochyena, the ocean waves… I couldn't take the suspense! It was killing me! I grinned widely as I waited for the last count.

"Three!"

I opened my eyes to see what happened. Suddenly, my grin turned into a frown. I was no longer on the beach. I was in some sort of white void room that had no walls, ceiling, or doors; it went on forever. I looked around and there was nobody there. Buizel, Poochyena, and Jirachi were gone. Was this a dream or a nightmare? This couldn't be reality. I started to become worried.

"Hello?" I called, "Is anyone there?"

My voice echoed from the emptiness of that place. It felt cold and deathful. I was so in horror of this place. What happened? Did the wish backfire or something? I was starting to become fearful.

"Buizel! Poochyena! Where are you? Answer me! I can't see you!" I called again.

No answer. I hoped they were okay. I wanted to run and check if I could find them, but then I remembered the second instruction; do not leave the circle I had drawn out. I looked down near my feet to see the circle that I had drawn out was still there.

"What the? Why of all things is that-" I started to say, when suddenly the circle disappeared, leaving no ground underneath me to stand on.

My eyes widened as I felt my feet get pulled by gravity into the hole. With nothing to grab onto and no hope whatsoever, my heart's fear caused me to scream in terror as I fell in!

-


	31. Chapter 31

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I couldn't believe it! I was falling through an pitch-black endless void. Falling and falling, I kept on screaming with every breath I could get with my diaphragm. I kept twirling around, unable to stop as my adrenaline shot through my chest.

I looked around, panicking. I thought maybe I could grab onto something, anything to stop my fall. But when I looked around for anything to grab on to, my hope died and my dread rose to its ultimate peak. I got so scared that I became desperate. I screamed loudly as I began to feel like I would break into tears.

"SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP!" I shrieked in terror.

Suddenly, the left and right of me flashed brightly. I whirled my head between each location looking at them. I suddenly realized something; each side had pictures of something that happened or is going to happen. Then, I noticed something; the pictures on the left were all off my past; from me as a baby all the way up to now, it had random pictures of me. It also included Buizel and Poochyena in them too.

But when I looked at the right, I didn't understand the pictures; they were all of Pokémon that I had never seen before. Yet, in a few of them, there was a Buizel and a Poochyena. Were they the same ones I had? I couldn't deduce it, because I was too terrified to think about it. All I knew was that I was falling in an endless fall in an unknown dimension.

Suddenly, I felt something; something… painful… yet chilling. I suddenly grabbed my head. I realized that the pictures were information; not only of my knowledge of the human world… but…. It felt like… those Pokémon pictures… yes, it was filling my head with all the information about them. Suddenly, my head started to ache more until it was beyond throbbing. It was like all the information was being poured into my brain at once.

"IT'S TOO MUCH! IT'S TOO MUCH! MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed.

It kept filling into my head that I thought it was going to burst. My brain and head started throbbing so much. I suddenly opened my eyes in realization that something happened. Something bad that made me flinch.

MY ARM BROKE.

I looked to my right arm and saw that it was shrinking. But because it was shrinking, the bones in my arm started to snap and break. Not only that, but the muscles and joints were burning, tearing and breaking at unbelievable levels. I gritted my teeth in pain, as I grunted repeatedly. Every second that I felt the arm break and tear, I grunted louder and louder.

I wanted to grab it and try to do something, but then my other arm started to shrink, breaking and tearing as it went. I started to scream loudly as I hyperventilated. I was panicking badly. What was going on? Why was my body changing? Why was I going through such a painful and dramatic change? Why would this be happening? Was this part of the wish? If so, I would trust Buizel and Poochyena, no matter how much pain I went through.

Suddenly, I screamed like no tomorrow. My legs suddenly snapped and were crushed into the size of my ankles. I couldn't grab my legs or do anything; every limb was broken, causing me to fall limp. I was unable to move as I kept screaming in pain. It was like everything my body was being rearranged and broken into a different size. And the worst part of it was… that I was awake for it every second.

I looked at my hands which started to break and shrink in size. Not only that, but my skin started to grow fur and turn yellow. Just then, I realized my whole body slipped through my sweatshirt, because I was getting smaller. The sweatshirt flew off me and out of my sights. Then, my shorts and my shoes until all my clothes were gone. My eyes widened as I panicked more.

"WH-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!?" I yelled.

Suddenly, my legs and arms started to turn yellow and grow fur too. I gritted my teeth and suddenly felt my lungs start to shrink. I suddenly started to suffocate; I couldn't breathe! No, this can't be happening! Was I falling too fast that I couldn't get any air?

I couldn't try to get myself to breath, because my arms were broken and my lungs were changing, changing into something that I couldn't understand. I was started to feel like I was going to die…

No! This was Buizel and Poochyena's wish! They wouldn't want me to die! All those times we spent together! No! NO! NONONO! It can't be! I trust them! This isn't what they would want!

"STOP IT! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed with all the air left in my lungs, "MAKE IT STGAAGGH!"

Suddenly, I couldn't feel my throat. It was shrinking too. It wasn't just the size; it… it was my vocal chords! I tried to say anything, but it was without of doubt that I knew what happened; I started to lose my human language. My tongue was changing as well; it was bigger than before and I couldn't maintain a way to move it so I could speak. My neck was still burning and when I tried to use my voice, it just burned more. There was no use in speaking; my voice was done for. I fell helplessly, struggling to even breathe.

Suddenly, I felt chills go up into my head. My whole skull felt cold, like it had been frozen forever. Suddenly, I began to have tears roll down my face as my skull started to cave in and crack everywhere. This pain was the most unbearable and it didn't help that my voice was gone. You see, it's scientifically proven that when you cry or scream when in pain, it numbs the feeling and the pain isn't so impactful. It's because you exhale and let all the energy out. But, thanks to my voice being out of order, I was going through what I thought was hell.

I clamped my eyes shut when they suddenly started to burn. Were my eyes changing too? What in the world was happening to me? My skull kept breaking until I couldn't even feel my face, because it was blinded in with pain and a burning feeling. Although it still had a bit of skin, the fur was growing slowly, the chills still remained, and my frustration was rising greatly.

Suddenly, the cartilage in my nose snapped and shattered. I tried to breath out of it, but I remembered how dumb I was; I couldn't breathe in the first place, so how could I have tried it now? Suddenly, it started to reshape and turn black. Suddenly, my cheeks became intensely shocked. It was like lightning had shot me in the face and burnt circles around it. Then, my ears suddenly felt like they were grabbed and forced out of their spot. I felt my ears grow taller and then place themselves onto my head.

Suddenly, my spine snapped, shrinking my body and causing me to cringe in the most uncomfortable way. I gasped in shock; my breath came back! I finally was able to breathe again; my lungs must've started to work. I then suddenly felt my tailbone near my rear suddenly shoot out of my skin. It was then that I let out the most painful shriek I ever made.

"GGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I screamed nonstop as I kept spiraling into a never-ending fall. I was crying in hysterics; I felt utterly abandoned and sore everywhere. It was then that suddenly the pain of having broken bones and muscles tearing suddenly was gone. I felt the burning cease in my eyes and immediately danced everywhere, looking at what was going on. I was yellow, covered in fur! What happened to me? Where the heck did my clothes go? There were so many questions I wanted to ask.

Suddenly, I saw a little portal suddenly appear underneath me. I twirled my body to look at it. it showed me a scenery of a forest at night. The midnight blue sky with starts shone as the green grass and trees rustle in the wind. There was… wait a minute… Buizel! Poochyena! THEY WERE STANDING THERE WITH THEIR BACKS TOWARDS THE PORTAL!

"BUIZEL! POOCHYENA! HELP ME!" I screamed as I reached towards the portal.

Suddenly, I flinched at the pain. My body may have stopped changing, but it was extremely sore. I closed my eyes and grunted with tears still flowing from them. Oh god, this was so unbearable. Please… please let Buizel and Poochyena hear my voice.

Suddenly, I heard a voice yell, "LOOK, IT'S THOMAS!"

Wait… was somebody else in this hellish torture besides me? It sounded like this person was older than me. I tried to figure out who it was, but I had never heard of the voice before in my life. And considering my eyes closed, I was basically blind.

It was then I suddenly heard another voice yelled, "HURRY! REACH OUT AND GRAB HIM!"

I became puzzled for a split second. Another person was in this place? What was going on? I didn't understand what was happening at all, but I didn't care. Suddenly, I flinched; someone or something had grabbed my arm. Then, another thing or person grabbed my other arm. I didn't know whether this force was friendly or dangerous, but I really couldn't do anything at the time. Besides, it was getting me out of this place, so I didn't care either; as long as I got out at the time, I would be happy. I went limp and let myself get pulled by whatever it was.

-


	32. Chapter 32

Suddenly, my feet felt something. Grass. Ground. A place to stand! I opened my eyes, despite the burning, and found that I was in the scenery that the portal shown. I panted with heavy breaths; man, that hurt so much. My whole body was completely sore. It hurt to even breathe. I looked down and glanced at my body; yep, it was still yellow and covered in fur. Wait a minute… I was standing… then, how come I'm closer to the ground?

I tried to **speak** a word and take a **step**, but suddenly my body gave out. After so much physical pain, I wasn't able to move anymore. I winced and felt my body slowly **start** to lean forward, meaning I was falling. I closed my eyes and readied for impact. Just as I came closer to hitting the ground hard, I felt two arms grab my torso and gently place me down on the ground.

I then heard the first voice say, "Oh no! Is he okay?"

Then the second voice said, "Yeah, he's fine. It looks like he's over exhausted and maybe a little sore."

"S-Sore?" the first one asked in a worried voice, "You mean… you don't think he was in pain, do you?"

"Well… his human body and this body… they have different bones, muscles, everything…. He must've felt everything change…" the second one replied.

"Oh my... you mean..." the first one replied, "He felt everything... his body breaking and...?"

After the voice trailed off, the second one sighed and said, "I'm afraid so... Darn it, we should've asked Jirachi if this would happen or if we could've avoided it."

"B-But…. I didn't want Thomas to get hurt," the first one said, sounding sad and regretful.

"Neither did I. For now, let's get him to the base and check on him there," the second one replied again.

Base? What base? I didn't see any building before I closed my eyes. And why did these voices know my name? More importantly, how did they know about what I went through and how I was sore? And how in the world did they know about Jirachi? It didn't make sense. And also, where were Buizel and Poochyena? I didn't see them when I got into this place.

"How do we get him back to the base?" the first voice asked.

"You're going to carry him," the second said.

"Okay. Will you please keep a good hold of him so he doesn't **fall** off?" the first asked politely.

"Don't worry; I'll keep him straight. I don't think he can move right now, so I'll make sure he stays on," the second one answered, as I slowly felt two arms grab around me.

With a little exhale, this person or whatever it was placed me onto something furry. I didn't know what it was, but… it felt so soft and nice. I was completely **limp**, as suddenly I felt like I was moving. Whatever the furry thing was, it started to move with me on top. Then, I felt my body start to slide to the right. Just as I was about to think I was falling, the two arms gently straightened me back on top. Whenever I started to slide, the arms would guide me back. Who was it that was helping me? Where were they taking me?

Suddenly, I heard something. Water. It wasn't rushing, but still water. I could feel it too, as the air got a little cooler. I suddenly felt a shade… a shade of a building in the darkness loom over me. I suddenly felt the two arms pick me up off the furry thing. I then was placed on a very nice place. It felt like a bed of some sort. But it was able to hold more than just me.

I suddenly felt relaxed and calm. I slowly but surely opened my eyes. I was in some sort of big cozy home. I tried to look around, but my body was too sore to let me. I then heard something approach me. I looked straight up and saw none other than Buizel on my right and Poochyena on my left, kneeling over me.

My heart became fluttered with joy. They were all right. I was so relieved. I wanted to say something to them, tell them I'm sorry and what happened, but then something happened that made me speechless.

With a wagging tail and a face that was overjoyed, Poochyena smiled and said, "Hey, Thomas."

My eyes widened. HE TALKED! Poochyena spoke English and I was able to understand him! How was that possible!? What was going on!? Did I die and go someplace? I mean, that pain back there was incredible; did it kill me without my knowledge?

I then heard a soft chuckle from Buizel. I looked over at him. He was grinning and looking at me with love.

"Wow… you look great," he said, happy and excited for some reason.

I was amazed. Was this… the gift? The ability to hear my Pokémon talk was the gift? If it was… then the pain was worth it. But… there was so many things I didn't understand. I had a million questions I wanted to ask. I tried to move, but I couldn't budge. My body was so sore and numb. I groaned in response as I felt Poochyena's paw gently touch my arm.

"We know you probably have tons of questions right now, like what just happened to you, where are we, and why you can understand us talking now," Poochyena said with a smile, "but right now is not the best time. It's getting late."

Buizel nodded with a smile and said, "Your body is over exhausted. You can't really move, and your voice is still getting used to the changes. You need to rest and recover, okay?"

No, it wasn't okay. There was so much I wanted to learn. I grunted, trying to move and speak. I wanted them to hear me. I wanted them to know what I wanted them to know. But then, a gentle paw from Buizel was placed on my chest.

"No, Thomas," he said, "You need to sleep. I promise when you wake up in the morning, we'll answer any questions you have."

"We know you're excited, Thomas; heck, we are too," Poochyena said, winking at me, "But let's have a good-night's rest and then we'll spend all day tomorrow together."

Buizel then turned to him and asked, "Brother, can you get the blanket please?"

"Sure, bro," Poochyena replied and obeyed.

Brothers? You mean Buizel and Poochyena were brothers? No wonder they were so close to each other. Why did I never think of that? I watched Poochyena disappear for a moment and Buizel look back at me.

He placed his paw on my head and rubbed it gently. It felt really enjoyable. Something about it made my whole body tingle with a good sensation. I closed my eyes and smiled. Buizel chuckled as I heard little footsteps come closer.

I opened my eyes to see Poochyena with the orange and white blanket! I was so happy to see it. Poochyena wagged his tail and smiled at me as he gave the blanket to Buizel.

"There you go, brother," Poochyena said with a smile.

"Good job," Buizel said, "Now go ahead and lie down with Thomas. I'll get the blanket over us."

Once he did that, he then walked over to my left side, laid down on his side, and snuggled into me. He snuggled his muzzle into my neck and rested his left front paw on my chest.

Buizel then sat down next to my right and spread the blanket over all of us. With that, he laid down, snuggled his nose into my neck, and hugged my around my stomach. Both got comfy and sighed in happiness. Then, they said the words that I had said to them two nights ago.

"We love you, Thomas," Poochyena said.

"We love you so much," Buizel said.

They loved me. They really loved me. I smiled and closed my eyes. I felt at peace. Buizel and Poochyena's fur made me feel wonderful. Not only that, but because of our love, the blanket felt like Heaven in warmth around me.

I felt the soreness starting to leave my body and the fatigue slowly affect my eyelids. I yawned deeply and then snuggled into both of them. The two Pokémon then hugged me tighter and made me even sleepier. I didn't know what had happened to me yet, but at least I knew that I could trust them about it. So, I went to sleep, awaiting the amazing adventure that would be before me and my two buddies.

-


	33. Chapter 33

Sooner than I knew it, I heard the sounds of birds chirping. I could feel a warmth in the air. It was morning. I could tell. It just felt so calm and peaceful. I was so warm. I felt so happy being there. Wait. That horrible pain. Buizel and Poochyena talking! Was that real!?

I opened my eyes, only to have to squint again from how much the sun was bright in my face. Man, it was morning. I looked around to see where I was. It was some sort of… brown circular interior building I had never seen before. It felt so cozy… like home… I looked to both of my sides to see Buizel and Poochyena were gone. There were by my sides when I went to sleep… was that… just a dream?

I looked to see that the layout was impressive. Where I was laying was a simple bed that was made for three with me smack dab in the middle, with my orange and white blanket near my feet. Behind me were three beds that were attached to the wall. When I turned around to look in front of me, the only thing that was connecting where I was lying to the outside door was a normal walk way over a built-in pond/pool near the entrance for swimming and relaxing.

Where was I? I couldn't figure out where my location was. I obviously wasn't at the beach anymore, because from the outside, there wasn't any ocean and there weren't any buildings last night when I reached land. Besides, I doubt that the horrible endless void I went through would just spurt me back onto the beach. Plus, when I got out of it, I had landed on grass, not sand.

I yawned and decided to at least see what happened to me. Whatever that endless void did to me, it felt like it arranged my body. So, I wanted to look at what had happened to me. I decided to slowly crawl over to the edge to look over at the water. As my head leaned over, I saw a small Pokémon that was yellow and looked like a cute mouse.

AWW! A Pikachu! How cute! It reminded me of Old Man Fellows' Pikachu, Flash. The Pikachu looked so cute, smiling into the water and looking… back… at me?

Wait a minute. Where was MY reflection? Where was my face? It wasn't showing at all as a reflection on the water. Whoa… that Pikachu was copying my expressions. Weird. How was it doing that? I didn't understand; it made me confused.

Suddenly, something got into my left eye. I grunted and started to scrape on my eye, trying to get out whatever it was in my eye. Finally, I was able to, but my eye was a bit itchy. So, I had it closed for a while. Suddenly, I realized it; the Pikachu had his left eye closed too. What the!? How was this possible!?

It was at that moment, my brain finally kicked in and brought a hypothesis in my head. I decided to test it. I slowly raised my left arm and touched my left ear. The Pikachu did the same. I then wiggled my nose; it did the same. I moved my body to show my right side. When the Pikachu did it, it showed its tail. We both widened our eyes. This was the last test. I wiggled part of my rear, and the Pikachu then moved his tail around.

It was creepy. How did this Pikachu have the ability to mock and copy every move and expression I did? I shook my head and looked down… only to see my arms were yellow and furry, like the Pikachu. I then realized something right there and then. I stood up and looked back at the reflection. I saw the Pikachu was standing up too. It was therefore clear to me.

I WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A PIKACHU.

I couldn't believe it. I was freaking out! How in the world was this happening? I just was amazed. Was that incredible pain from last night me transforming into a Pokémon? But how? Why would I transform into a Pikachu?

… Wait a minute… was this Buizel and Poochyena's wish? Transforming into a Pokémon like them? So… does that mean… they're here somewhere? I looked around to see if I could see anyone at all, anything to find a clue on what was going on.

"THOMAS!" I heard someone happily shout.

My ears twitched to the direction of the entrance of the place I was inside. It was Poochyena, running to me with a smile on his face. He giggled in joy and approached me closer and closer with every step. I smiled. It was him; someone I could trust. It was all true; last night… he and Buizel talking… it was all true.

As he got close to me, he ran circles around me, panting happily and wagging his tail. I smiled and chuckled, watching him happily surround me. Finally, he got in front of me, stood on his hind legs, and put his front paws on me. He then rubbed his head into my face and wagged his tail. I smiled and closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck for a big hug.

"It's really you…" Poochyena said, resting his head against mine.

I sighed and snuggled him. It felt good, his fur into mine. It was so warm; warmer than it had felt against my human skin. It was like something in my body was reacting differently than before… like I liked it to happen. It was a craving for that feeling. I soon felt it leave as Poochyena stood back on all fours off me. He looked into my eyes and grinned excitedly.

"I can't believe it! It actually worked!" he barked excitedly, closing his eyes, "The wish actually worked!"

"The wish?" I asked confused.

I then was shocked inside; I was able to speak again! I couldn't understand why, but at the time I was more interested in why Poochyena was talking. I paid attention as he snuggled into my body.

"Don't you remember, Thomas?" he explained, "It was that wish that Jirachi told you about. The one we wanted for you."

"You mean… your wish for me was…?" I asked.

"Yep!" Poochyena barked, "The wish was for you to become a Pokémon like us!"

I was amazed… and honored. I was so happy. Their wish turned me into a Pokémon. I bent down on my knees. I glanced down at the water back at my reflection as Poochyena joined me. I smiled at my reflection. I was happy with this wish… no… not just happy; touched too. I stared into the water and smiled at my new appearance.

That's when I saw him. Buizel slowly appeared behind me with a smile and wrapped his arms around me. I saw him close his eyes, smile gently, and snuggle into me, as he tightened his hug around me. I closed my eyes and snuggled into him.

"Hey, Thomas," he said, nuzzling me, "I was waiting for you to wake up."

As I stood up and allowed him to hug me more, I giggled and felt his warmth on my fur. I loved being nuzzled. It was so good for some odd reason. Just to feel it… it made me long for it… like I didn't ever want him to stop. I sighed in relaxation as I heard a giggle. I opened my eyes to see Poochyena get on his hind legs and hug me from the front. It made me giggle, to feel both of them against my body. I was so overjoyed and so touched at this.

Soon, both let go and quietly led me back down to sitting on the bed. Both faced me; Poochyena on my left and Buizel on my right. I watched them smile at me and begin a conversation.

"We're guessing you have a million questions for us," Poochyena said, lying down on his belly.

"Y-yeah…" I said, scratching my head, "Where do I even begin asking?"

"How about before we start asking questions, we start by telling you our names?" Buizel said smiling.

I blinked in shock as I said, "Wait… you have names like me?"

"Yup!" Poochyena barked happily, "We do, just like you, Thomas."

"If that's true, why didn't you tell me back home? I would've called you by your real names," I said perplexed.

Both blushed a bit out of embarrassment. That's a first. I never saw anyone blush after having that question asked. ... Eheheheh, then again I've never asked that question to anyone. Okay... this is getting awkward. Anyways, Buizel stuck his tongue out and chuckled.

"Well, it's just… when you called us Buizel and Poochyena… it kinda felt cool to hear you call us that…" he said.

I sort of blushed at that statement. I giggled and rubbed under my nose.

"Yeah… but still, it would be nice to know your names," I said.

Poochyena nodded and grinned proudly, saying, "I'll go first. My name's Naruto. And Buizel's name is Sasuke."

Naruto and Sasuke? Haha! Like my favorite Japanese manga/anime! I loved those names. The name Naruto had several definitions like spiral, while Sasuke meant assistance. I grinned and nodded.

"Okay… Naruto and Sasuke, I'll remember your names," I said and then asked, "Is it popular for Pokémon to have names, or are they born with them?"

"Oh, no no," Sasuke said, waving his paw at me, "Actually, some parents of Pokémon will give their children names and some won't. So, the Pokémon world has uniqueness already just by getting a name or not."

My ear twitched when I caught that and said, "Wait… did you say Pokémon world? Does that mean we're…"

"Yes, it does!" Naruto said, wagging his tail as both smiled, "Thomas, you're in the Pokémon world now!"

I gasped and realized that fact. I was in another dimension, another world… where humans don't exist in anything but legends. That endless painful bone-shattering experience I went through sent me here and changed me, so I could fit in. However, now I realized something. I was in a different world, away from my friends, with no way to contact them. I was gonna be here… for a long time.

-


	34. Chapter 34

"Uh…. Thomas? Hello? You there?" I heard Naruto say and saw a puppy paw wave in front of my face.

I blinked and flinched a bit in shock. I must've spaced out from thinking about what I had mentioned in the last paragraph from the last chapter. I shook my head and looked at Naruto, who was smirking a bit at me and Sasuke with a smile on his face.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I chuckled embarrassed, "I must've zoned out…"

"Well, I can't blame you," Sasuke said, as Naruto laid back down, "You went through quite a shock and experience all in one night."

"Yeah, I'll say…" I muttered, rubbing my arm and **remembering** the (excuse my language) hell I went through, "That hurt so much, I thought was gonna die…"

Naruto lowered his ears a bit and apologized, "We're so sorry, Thomas. We did make the wish, but we honestly didn't think you'd have to go through it and feel it."

"We thought that Jirachi would've at least put you to sleep, so you wouldn't have felt it," Sasuke said.

"Nah, it was incredible. I mean, I wouldn't want to do it again, but if it was necessary to live with you guys, it was worth it," I said smiling.

This statement caused both their faces to turn bright red. I grinned at them, chuckling as I took a breath and started to **speak** again.

"So, I guess I'll ask… how did you guys get to my world, if you guys lived here?" I asked.

Both smiled at each other and then back at me. I figured that this would be a big and long answer. I sat back and started to enjoy them getting ready to tell me a story.

"Okay, but before we begin that, we have to **start** with a legend of the Pokémon world that ties into us going to your world," Sasuke explained.

"A legend?" I asked interested.

Naruto nodded and said, "It's the legend of Ninetails."

Ninetails… that fire-type fox with nine tails that looks beautiful? It has a legend?

"Oh, okay… Wait a minute…. How did I know about that Pokémon if I've never seen one?" I asked confused.

It was a bit baffling. I've heard of that Pokémon, but I never saw it in real life or even pictures of it, yet I could see what it looked like in my head.

"I can explain that," Naruto said proudly, "When you transformed, you obtained the knowledge a Pokémon would from this world."

I get it now! Those pictures when I first started falling make sense! Those Pokémon pictures were information of all the Pokémon that are known to date! I get it now! However, at the time, I didn't understand that those pictures showed **future** events that would happen to me. However, I nodded.

"Okay, so go ahead and **continue** with the legend," I said, anticipating what this would be.

Sasuke nodded and began to tell the tale, "A thousand years ago in the human world, there was a young boy who was foolish and disrespectful. He caused nothing but mischief and had no respect for the rules. One day, he came across Ninetails, taking a quiet stroll near his home. Thinking it would be a joke, he snuck up behind her and touched one of her tails. That caused great anger in her and made her attack him with a curse."

"Wait, attack him? What do you mean?" I asked, extremely confused about what Sasuke meant.

"Touching one of the Ninetails' tails can cause bad luck and curses," Naruto briefly said, "And Ninetails is a woman here, but she keeps herself hidden. Nobody knows where she is."

"Anyways," Sasuke continued, "Ninetails attacked the teenager and struck in order to kill. It was then the trainer's two Pokémon stood in front of him and took the attack. As they suffered and died, Ninetails asked the human if he wanted to save them. But as she asked that, the human turned and ran away, leaving his two Pokémon to die alone. Thus, Ninetails cursed the human."

"What was the curse?" I asked.

"The curse was this boy in a thousand years would be reborn as a Pokémon and cause havoc on the Pokémon world by causing natural disasters and chaos," Naruto answered.

"Whoa…" I muttered.

"I know; it's pretty big stuff," Naruto said.

"So, then, how does this apply to you?" I asked.

Sasuke answered, "Well… we had a lot of natural disasters of late. Big ones, like hurricanes, tornadoes, and big thunderstorms. So, we made a decision to go to the human world and investigate to find out who was the human being in the legend and perhaps stop it."

"But… how did you get from this world to mine?" I questioned.

"The same way you got into ours from yours, Thomas," Naruto barked happily, "Jirachi!"

Ah, I get it now. They traveled between our worlds to stop the natural disasters. They just had to go…. Back…. IN TIME!? WAIT A MINUTE!

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "You mean that my world-!"

"Yes, Thomas," Sasuke nodded and said smiling, "Your human home is a thousand years in the past to our Pokémon world."

Holy cow… I never would've thought. My home, my TIME even… was the beginning of their legend. It makes sense now. So, they went to investigate this. Hmm…. Wait, the word 'investigate' caught my attention when he said that.

"You guys said investigate. Are you guys like some sort of police or something?" I asked, impressed by them.

"Not exactly," Sasuke answered blushing, "You see, in our world, there are groups called the Pokémon Rescue Teams."

"Rescue Teams?" I repeated in confusion.

Naruto nodded and said, "Yeah. Rescue Teams respond to many dangerous things, like rescuing somebody in trouble to fighting bad guys and natural disasters. In fact, Sasuke and I are one of the best teams!"

My eyes widened and I asked, "Really?"

"Hee-hee… yeah, although we're technically rookies, we are actually just a few rescue points away from obtaining a higher rank," Sasuke said grinning.

So that's how Sasuke and Naruto have such amazing strength and phenomenal speed. They are some of the best and strongest Pokémon in this world! That was so amazing, I couldn't help but smile.

"And just for the record," Naruto said annoyed as he sat proudly, "We could've wiped out those Pokémon of Mr. Pepperridge if we wanted too!"

I laughed at Naruto, who smirked, and said, "Then… why didn't you?"

Sasuke sighed, "To be honest, we were scared. I mean, at the time, you and that nice old man were all we could take for humans. But then to have one attack us with a bunch of humans surrounding us was frightening."

Both stood up and walked over to me. They hugged me out of the blue really tight. I blinked in surprise, but then smiled and slowly wrapped my arms around them. They snuggled into me as Sasuke rubbed his head on mine.

"Thomas… I'm sorry… about that day… we should've dodged it," he said regretfully.

"It's okay," I comforted them, "It's not your fault."

"But Thomas…" Naruto whined, closing his eyes, "If we had only fought better and you hadn't gotten hurt-"

Before he could go on, I had slipping my hands underneath his belly and on Sasuke's face. I began to scratch gently, causing their eyes to close and a smirk to come across their faces. Naruto slowly laid down and rolled over, allowing me to scratch and rub his belly more. Sasuke leaned his head towards my hand, so I was able to scratch it more. I giggled as they moaned in happiness.

"I see you like it when I do this," I said, barely able to say it from chuckling.

"Yeah, we love it so much…" Naruto said dreamily.

"Whenever we're alone, you're welcome to rub and scratch us all over whenever you want," Sasuke said smiling.

After a while, I stopped rubbing and they were able to sit again facing me. We smiled at each other; I loved them with all my heart. But now, it was time to hear the rest of the story.

"So, how did you get in touch with Jirachi?" I asked, "I thought Legendaries like to be secluded from public notice."

"They do sometimes," Naruto replied, "We went on a journey to a place near Wish Cavern, the rumored home of Jirachi. After searching for a long period of time, we finally came into contact with Jirachi. We asked him if we could have a wish to go back into the human world around that time and find Ninetails, so we could warn her and prevent it from happening."

"He permitted the wish," Sasuke added, "but he gave us only two months. We agreed, and he even was willing to put us on the human world where it actually happened. He told us it was called Kilyla."

"My island!" I exclaimed in shock.

-


	35. Chapter 35

"Yep," Naruto continued, "It had happened somewhere on your island. So for about half a month, we searched all over the island for it. Every tree, every far view of the city, every opening we could **find**, but there was no sign of Ninetails. One evening, we decided to check around the shorelines."

"We kept searching when we found this little cave opening. At least that's what we thought as we tried to move the rocks that blocked it. As we pulled them out, we realized it was empty, but it was too late," Sasuke explained, "The rocks fell on top of us, pinning us to the sand and preventing us to move. That's when you came in and saved us, Thomas."

I blushed a bit when they smiled at me. Grinning as I rubbed my head, I couldn't help, but feel a bit proud of myself. However, if you recall the first couple chapters (which I hope you read and not be those who joined in halfway so far… I can see you), you'll remember that I was terrified at the time for even going near them. However, it wasn't just me who should have the credit.

"You should really thank Jirachi," I told them, "I was coming from a **daily** routine and getting ready to go into my house to call it a day. He spoke to me in my mind and convinced me I should check the alcove. And low and behold, I saw you. But there is something I don't get."

"What is it, Thomas?" Naruto asked as his ears perked up and Sasuke blinked.

"I mean, you guys now know why I was scared of you when I first met you. But how come you guys were as equally terrified of me as I was of you?" I asked.

"Well, Thomas, humans are legends in this world," Sasuke explained, "We had seen humans in the city, true enough. But you were the first one to actually make contact with us. I mean, you were the first human to touch us and even pick us up. We thought we were gonna die when you held us."

Sasuke giggled nervously as Naruto lowered his head. They thought THEY were gonna die? HELLO!? I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE! I had never come into **close** contact with Pokémon like that ever since the Kilyla City incident happened. I thought they would attack me when I held them. Nevertheless, I kept this thought in my head and listened to them.

"But you were different than the legends," Sasuke said smiling as Naruto smiled and brought his head **back up**, "You actually cared about us and gave us food, a blanket, and you even helped by healing us. And then when you came back at morning, we followed not because of our mission, but we were **interested in** you and wanted to know more about you."

"That led up to meeting that nice Old Man Fellows and your friends from the schoolyard," Naruto said, wagging his tail, "We enjoyed being with you. But then… that schoolyard incident. We knew that Mr. Pepperidge wasn't the human from the legend, but he still scared us by trying to capture us. What frightened us even more was when you took that Hyper Beam for us."

"We cried, because we felt like we let you down and you were going to die because of us. But when you offered us a hug and said it was okay," Sasuke said, smiling and looking down with dreamingly eyes, "We cried because there was a human who actually cared about us. We decided that we couldn't trust anyone but you, your friends, and Old Man Fellows. So when you got home…"

"You were scared I was gonna leave you for the humans to get you?" I asked, knowing the answer.

Both nodded. Man, they really were depending on me back then. I never knew that they were that scared of humans. It was a good thing that the events following that happened.

"We were basically begging you not to leave us behind like that. We were so scared until you told us you would never do that and we could stay with you!" Naruto barked happily, "We were so excited and even more thrilled to be inside a human home!"

"Yeah, I could tell," I said with a blank stare on my face, "You guys do realize you broke ten things in my house the first day?"

(AND YES, IT WAS TEN; I DO REMEMBER AND KUDOS TO THE ONES WHO DO FOR READING THE THINGS THAT BROKE FROM THAT CHAPTER!)

Both smiled nervously and chuckled. I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow, exactly like I did when they broke the stuff. I watched as Naruto giggled more.

"Again, we're sorry about that," he apologized.

I shook my head and did a facepalm… er… or is it facepaw now that I'm a Pikachu? Do you know? Oh, well. Anyways, I covered my face with my hand/paw and groaned.

"I still cannot believe you two actually got away with it by giving me cute looks…" I muttered.

"What?" Sasuke asked, nudging Naruto with a grin, "You mean these?"

With that, both of them gave me the looks they did on the first night they stayed in my house; the cute faces that look like this ( :3 ) with sparkling eyes and their heads tilting, just smiling and staring at me. I smirked and shook my head, looking away.

DARN YOU, CUTENESS! I CANNOT DEFEAT YOUR POWER OF MAKING SMALL CREATURES LOOK ADORABLE!

Both the Buizel and Poochyena stopped giving me the look when I looked away and laughed. I chuckled at them, which actually made another question pop into my head.

"Speaking of your cute looks, I do have another question," I asked as they listened, "How come you guys are acting more mature now than when you were in the human world? Does going there affect your personality?"

"Not at all," Naruto said, sort of chuckling, "Truth be told, we kinda liked getting babied by you. It was fun and you seemed to enjoy it whenever we acted silly."

I blushed at Naruto saying that and then rolling on his back, panting at me. It was true; I couldn't help it. They did look so cute and they acted so funny when we were at my home. It was like two small furry toddlers; just to watch them be silly made me laugh and happy.

"Besides," Sasuke added, "Life's too short to be gloomy all the time. I hate the stereotype of young people being so depressed and dark. I mean, come on; you only get to be a teenager once."

The word caught my attention. My ears perked to his sentence. Did I catch that right? A TEENAGER? I made an awkward face apparently, cause I caused Naruto to laugh at me.

"Thomas, it looks like you've seen a ghost! Hahahaha!" he laughed.

"I can't help it!" I protested, "I can't believe what I heard. You two are honestly teenagers?"

"Yep!" Naruto barked and grinned.

"I'm seventeen years old," Sasuke said, "and Naruto is sixteen."

Seventeen…. And sixteen…. You have got to be kidding me. I slowly laid back with a blank expression and stared at the ceiling. I could not believe they were that old. It couldn't be. There was no way.

"Um… Thomas?" I heard Sasuke ask, "Are you okay?"

"You have to be joking," I responded like I was in a trance, "You two are both older than me."

I could not believe it; the Pokémon who I babied and care for were older than I was. My mind felt like it was shot; it was just so unfair! I can't believe these two, who acted like eight-year-olds in my bedroom, are actually young adults and OLDER than me! (And yes, I am stressing out my disbelief; as some people say, R U MAD?)

Sorry about that, I couldn't resist saying it. Back to the story…

I heard Naruto laugh and then saw his head come close to my left side. He walked over and looked at me.

"No fooling? We're older than you?" he asked happily and innocently.

"Yes," I nodded with a smirk, "I'm fifteen."

The puppy giggled and snuggled his face into mine. It made me smile as I let him rub his face all over my head. He backed up and sat down, allowing me to sit back up.

"That's funny!" Naruto said, wagging his tail with closed eyes, "I guess then that makes you our little brother."

Wait… did he just…. say… I widened my eyes as my face just froze. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I struggled to find words to say; the impact of what you just heard Naruto say made me speechless. I looked down and was finally able to speak.

"Did… did you j… just call me…" I struggled to ask.

"Yes, he did," Sasuke said, smiling as I looked at him, "Thomas, our wish wasn't to make you into a Pokémon; our wish was for you to become our brother."

-


	36. Chapter 36

My heart fluttered with happiness. I smiled at them. I mean, if we remember, I mentioned that the bond between us was a **brotherly** bond. Now… these two made it a reality. I had a family again. I had two older brother who loved me and care about me. They smiled at me. It made me so excited just to be with them now that I heard that.

"We'll explain," Sasuke said, "After all that happened up to that point, we wanted to show you how we felt about you. So, we decided to draw you a picture."

"The picture you showed that night I came back from the carnival," I said.

"Yes," Naruto nodded and continued, "When we showed it to you, we could tell you loved it. And when you told us you loved us back, we decided to stay with you. We loved you and never wanted to leave your side."

"That whole month you spent with us made our love for you grow," Sasuke added, "You tickled us, snuggled us, nursed us to **health** from**sickness** and injuries, and many other things. We had never felt so loved."

I nodded as I heard Naruto say, "Then fast-forwarding to the night we snuggled in your bed before we left the island, we both knew that soon, our two months on the human world would be over. But if that happened, we would leave you behind on the human world. We didn't want to go away from you."

Sasuke then added, "So, late that night, when you were asleep… we met with Jirachi in your room."

"Jirachi was in my room!? No way!" I said out loud.

I couldn't believe it. A Legendary Pokémon showed up in my room… WHEN I WAS SLEEPING!? That was so not fair… yet again I did get to see him the following night, so I can't complain.

"We asked him," Sasuke said, "if you could come with us to the Pokémon world. We begged and pleaded Jirachi to just please give us one more wish. And to our surprise, he said he'd grant it on one condition."

"And that was?" I asked.

"You had to accept the wish," Naruto said smiling, "and you did! When you told us you wanted to be like us and be connected, we knew that you were gonna be our brother!"

Sasuke smiled and added, "And from that moment on, we knew that for the rest of your life, you were gonna be our brother."

I smiled and felt warmth in my heart. I could feel myself smile in happiness and have my heart lifted up. I smirked and watched my brothers slowly come over and hugged me. I smiled and snuggled into them as they giggled.

"So, welcome to **your new life**, brother!" both of them exclaimed with grins and snuggled me closer.

I laughed with them and snuggled them back. I felt so energized! So great! I loved being hugged like this! I was so excited! I couldn't wait to live my new life as a Pokémon!

"I'm so thrilled to have this chance!" I told them.

"Well, we have tons of things to do today," Sasuke told me as we all broke the hug, "We gotta go into town today."

"Town?" I blinked, "You live in a town?"

"Actually, yeah," Naruto said, "It's a place called Pokémon Square. In fact, our base lives on the west edge of town."

"Base?" I said, looking around, "Does that mean this building is your rescue team base?"

"Yep!" Naruto barked happily.

"Today, we gotta go into town for a few errands. And we'd like for you to come with us so you can get used to your new home," Sasuke said.

"Me? Go into town?" I asked, with a blush.

"Yeah, we need to go do some things; we need to fix some things of ours and get you used to the Pokémon world," Naruto said.

I asked, "But there are so many things to learn… like… how do I attack? How do I function as a Pokémon? How do I-?"

"Calm down," Poochyena nuzzled my neck, giving me that warm feeling, "We'll teach you everything about being a Pokémon. So, let's get going, shall we?"

It was then that Sasuke's paw gently placed on Naruto's back. The puppy looked back at the otter and blinked in confusion.

"Hang on, Naruto," he said, "There's a couple things Thomas needs to know first."

My ears perked up at that statement as Sasuke leaned closer to me. He gently placed both of his paws on my shoulders. Naruto watched in a confused manner. I just stared back into Sasuke's eyes which had gotten serious. I blinked and watched him slowly getting closer to me.

"Thomas, you listen to me very closely and perfectly clear," he said to me in a serious tone, "DO NOT TELL ANYONE AT ALL THAT YOU ARE A HUMAN OR THAT YOU KNOW THINGS OF THE HUMAN WORLD."

I was a bit shocked hearing my brother sound so serious and demanding. I had never seen him act so serious before. Then again, I babied him and Naruto for a while. Maybe that's why. But now as me being his little brother and transitioning from a brand new time and world, I could see a different side of Sasuke. I was amazed at him and stared at him.

"Thomas? Did you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes," I said and nodded, "I'm just shocked a bit. I've never heard or seen you like this."

Sasuke grinned and said, "That's because I care about you. Now that you're in our world, it's my and Naruto's responsibility to protect you and teach you about the Pokémon world."

"So, why do I have to not tell about who I am?" I asked.

Sasuke answered with a serious face, "Because the human world is a myth here. And we just told you the legend. So, if people learned that you were a human…"

"Oh, I get it," I said nodding.

It's clear now. If I were to say that I was human, the Pokémon of this world would become afraid of me. Not only that, but some would even try to claim I was this cursed human and then could try to attack me. I don't need that… really, I know what you're thinking: It's gonna happen, right? Well, at the time I hoped not; plus, that's a spoiler, you impatient people, you. Wait like the rest of them and read the dang story.

Naruto walked over to us and snuggled into Sasuke, who chuckled. The puppy licked his brother's face and made him smile. Both of them looked at me as Sasuke continued.

"So, now you know why you cannot tell anybody who you REALLY are," he said.

"But what if someone asks me about who I am?" I asked, "I can't just ignore them, but I don't wanna lie to their faces."

"Don't worry," Naruto said cheerfully, "We got it all taken care of. If anybody asks, Sasuke and I have made the perfect story for you."

"You can tell them your first name and how old you are," Sasuke said, "But what your last name is, where you came from, meeting Jirachi, and anything else are off-limits. Do you understand?"

I nodded as he said, "Good. Now, let's hurry into town. We need to take care of our errands."

We all then stood up, getting ready to leave. However, something didn't feel right when I put a foot forward to walk. I suddenly felt my body sway in unbalance. I sort of shrieked in shock as I fell forward to the ground. I hit the ground so hard, it caused my brothers to turn around in shock. I heard their little footsteps run to me and felt a puppy head and two orange arms pick me up.

"Thomas!" Naruto said, "Are you okay?"

"Ow…. Yeah, but something's wrong with my body," I answered, rubbing my face where it hit the floor.

Sasuke chuckled and said, "It's because you're not used to walking around as a Pokémon. If you have a tail, it becomes a part of your movements, Thomas."

I looked behind me at my tail and said, "You've got to be kidding me."

I couldn't believe it; now I had to have a tail to walk from now on? That wasn't fair at all; I didn't need a tail before. I tried to walk again, but I soon started to sway again. Luckily, Sasuke and Naruto were there to help me from falling.

"Hold on, brother," Naruto said, wagging his tail, "Let's help you walk around a bit first."

I was feeling a bit embarrassed by this when I felt a paw take my arm and put it over a certain Buizel's shoulder. Sasuke smiled as he helped me on my right and Naruto stayed at my left.

"Don't be ashamed; we'll help," he said to me, "Let's take it one step at a time."

With that, for about thirty minutes, we walked all around the floor inside of the base. Now I know what a baby feels like. I constantly was struggling to stay on my feet and walk straight. I felt like one of those (God bless them) veterans who had a crippling injury and were trying so hard to learn how to walk again. I struggled and panicked a few times, but my brothers were right by my side, making me feel better by aid and encouragement.

Finally after what felt like an eternity but in reality being thirty minutes like I said, I finally was able to walk normally again without anybody helping me or having difficulty. I blushed as I heard my brothers giggle at me and walk up to me.

"You got it, Thomas!" Naruto said happily, snuggling into my side and causing me to giggle.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, there are only two more things for you to know before we head out," Sasuke told me.

Naruto nodded and said, "Since we're a famous rescue team, please don't get afraid if people stare at us. It's not you; it's us."

"Naruto! Don't say it like that!" Sasuke scolded a bit.

"I'm sorry, but that's the truth! I didn't mean to brag!" Naruto backed up and said smirking.

I giggled and saw Sasuke blush at me. He folded his arms and smirked as Naruto giggled and realized what the other thing was. He giggled and quickly hurried over to the corner of the base.

"Now, the last thing we need to tell you is that you forgot something!" he said as he bent down and picked something up with his mouth.

I suddenly smiled wide as I realized that Naruto was bringing back something in his mouth. I recognized that object and his mouth; my headband! The bold blue tie-up headband was perfectly fine and clean. I smiled as my older brother brought it to me. He smiled and wagged his tail cutely. I grinned and held the headband in my hands.

"I cannot believe it! My headband is in my hands!" I said happily.

"What, you don't remember?" Naruto said, "Jirachi told you that anything you didn't wanna lose you were supposed to give to us."

Sasuke pointed to the blanket and then to the **headband**, saying, "When we took it and while you were going through your change, Jirachi told us you would be put in the woods in front of our base. So, we booked it here to put your stuff inside and then ran back to help."

I nodded and smiled back at the headband. After looking at it, I slowly slipped it one and tied it in the back. It felt weird at first with my new fur pressing back against my forehead from my headband, but I soon would get used to it. I smiled proudly as my brothers giggled at me.

"What?" I asked.

Naruto smiled and said, "You look awesome! That headband looks great on you when you're a Pikachu!"

I sort of had my eye twitched when I heard that and asked with a smirk, "What are you saying; it didn't look good when I was a human?"

"Uh…" Naruto giggled nervously, trying to think of an excuse.

"Okay, enough, you two," I felt a paw place itself on my head and saw another on Naruto's as Sasuke spoke, "From now on, no more talking about Thomas as a human unless it's just us in private. Let's get into town and hurry up."

"Right!" Naruto barked.

I nodded and said, "Let's roll!"

It was then the three of us headed for the door. A part of me got knots in my stomach. Only a month and a half ago I was completely terrified of Pokémon. Now, I'm living in a world where Pokémon are the only inhabitants. They can speak and act like humans. Who knows what else they could do? But, the other part of me which was taking over was getting excited. I was about to live my life happily with my two older brothers! I couldn't wait! I grinned as the three of us stepped outside and into the world of Pokémon!

-


	37. Chapter 37

I began to walk with Naruto and Sasuke through a part of the woods. It was beautiful. I noticed that there were other houses that looked like the base that belonged to my brothers. Were those bases too? Or were those houses?

"Hey, guys," I asked, "What are those buildings used for?"

"Those?" Sasuke said, "Those are all Rescue Team bases. They shelter and provide as **homes** for all the Rescue Teams that reside there."

"But there are only a handful of them…" I said.

"That's because some of the other teams live in other parts of the town, you silly Pikachu, you," Naruto said, teasing me.

I smirked and nodded. I had to get used to the fact that I no longer was a human. I was an electric mouse. Hahaha! Geez, that's definitely a wake-up call for a person if I ever experienced one. I looked to see in front of me a tiny wooden bridge that went over a river. I blinked at it as Sasuke obviously saw that I was a bit perplexed at the bridge.

"This is the west side bridge," he explained, "This connects the West Rescue bases here with the town."

I nodded as all three of us calmly walked over it. But before we could even get over the bridge, I saw it. Pokémon Square: the place on which the rest of my life would live in. I looked around and saw that tons of Pokémon were all over the place. I watched as there were buildings and all around me. The whole area was covered in a beautiful forest area. I looked around and saw a healthy town with wonderful friendships.

"Thomas, welcome to **your new home**," Naruto said, wagging his tail.

Sasuke smiled and said, "I won't introduce you to everybody now, but there are a few people that will introduce to you soon. But first, we'll give you a quick general **tour** of the buildings. I won't do them all, because there are too many. I'll just do the ones located the closest to the Square."

I nodded as he showed me around. We stopped in front of where there was a **building** and stand that looked like a shop. There was a green Kecleon and a purple one who were working behind it.

"That's the Kecleon brothers. We call them by G.K and P.K," Sasuke said, "They run the Kecleon shop and wares. They offer a wide range of items for anyone to purchase."

He then pointed to a building that looked like a Kangaskhan. I blinked at it and nodded.

"That's Auntie Kangaskhan's **storage place**," he said, "It's run by Auntie Kangaskhan and Uncle Raichu. That's where you want to store things you can't hold onto."

"Wait, uncle and auntie?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Are those Pokémon your parents? Shouldn't they be called your mom and dad?"

"No, not exactly," Naruto giggled, "They're more of our legal guardians."

"Okay," I said and nodded.

I did not want to get into why the two didn't have parents. I just got here and I don't want to invade into their personal lives. Remembering on what they had said, it could have been the natural disasters. Aha… maybe that's the REAL reason they went back. They thought that maybe if they changed the past, their parents could come back. But anyways I watched as Sasuke smiled at me.

"We'll introduce you to them later after we do something. But for now, the rest of the tour. Okay, see that building over there with the Persian?" he asked.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Well, that's the Felicity Bank. Persian runs it. Whenever you have money you need to put away, you can put it away there. Our account is our Team's money," he explained.

I nodded as Naruto said, "And that building next to it is run by Wigglytuff. It's called the Wigglytuff Club. It allows other Pokémon to go into different areas around here and for them to stay connected."

I nodded as Naruto continued, "The pink building is called Gulpin's Link Shop. Gulpin runs the shop. It allows Pokémon to relearn moves they have forgotten."

"I don't think that's gonna help me… I don't even know how to build up electricity or even attack," I said chuckling.

Naruto walked over and snuggled into me. Sasuke and I smiled, as I pet his head.

"Don't worry, little brother," the puppy said, "We'll teach you about the Pokémon world. We're just giving you a quick tour."

Sasuke pointed to the south beyond that and said, "Down to the south is Makuhita Dojo. Makuhita runs a training gym where different types of areas that support types are run. It allows teams to practice their skills by going into mock environments. It's usually where Naruto and I mostly went before meeting you. It's also where the South Rescue bases reside."

I smiled as he stepped closer into me. He grinned as he rubbed his fur into mine. I enjoyed that feeling it gave. I loved it. He felt so warm. Naruto wagged his tail and pointed to the East.

"To the East, past the East Rescue bases, is Pelipper Post Office. That's where Pelipper and other Pokémon work. Also, it's where mail is sent and delivered," he said.

"It's also where the available missions are placed on the message board," Sasuke added, "but in order to accept it, you'll have to go north."

"Why north?" I asked.

"To the north, which is surrounded by the North Rescue bases, is Whiscash Pond," Sasuke explained, "It resides as the home of our town's leader, Whiscash Elder. He gives the teams their missions and looks out after everybody. He also knows many amazing tales and stories."

"He sounds like the ideal leader," I said with a smile.

"He's actually the first person we're gonna meet. You see, we need to get in some more registration stuff done for our team," Sasuke said.

"W-What? But I thought you were one of the strongest teams," I asked confused.

"Well, technically, we just started," Naruto giggled blushing as Sasuke blushed too and rolled his eyes, "However, we have the skills enough to surpass different ranks."

"So… what kind of ranks are there?" I asked.

Sasuke answered, "There are seven ranks total. Normally when you start, you have a Normal Rank. But because we had exceptional talent as beginners, they decided to put us at a Silver Rank. As you complete missions, your rank gets higher, but the difficulty of the mission that become available to your team get harder. In order from least to greatest, it's Normal, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and lastly Lucario."

I tilted my head in surprise and blinked at that. They named a rank after a specific Pokémon?

"Why is there a rank named after Lucario?" I asked.

"That's because Lucario lives here," Naruto said happily, "And he's the strongest Pokémon in the world. Nobody can beat him or stop him when his team is on a mission. He also serves as the right hand Pokémon to Whiscash Elder. So, come on. Let's head over there!"

"Hold on," Sasuke said, catching both Naruto's and my attention, "Thomas… I'm really sorry about this."

With that, before I could even get a word in, Sasuke actually brought his right paw down right smack onto my head. I suddenly felt pain shoot through my spin as my fur stood up on end. Naruto gasped as I yelled.

"YEEEEOWWW!"

I immediately clutched my head to where my older brother actually hit! Sasuke hit me! What in the world?

"S-Sasuke! What'd you do that for? Thomas didn't do anything!" my other brother stood up for me.

"I know," Sasuke said as he advanced towards me.

He then slowly wrapped his arms around me in a hug and snuggled me. I was stunned. Did I do something wrong? I just stood there and watched him let go and look at me.

"I'm so sorry, Thomas," Sasuke said, "It hurt me to do that to you."

"But what did I-?" I tried to ask.

"Nothing," Sasuke answered, "However, Naruto and I made an alibi for you so your "secret" is safe from anybody knowing."

"Oh, I remember now," Naruto nodded and said, "You needed to hit him to leave a bump on his head."

I was confused at first, but then when I felt my head, I flinched at a new tiny but not seeable bump on the top of my head. I felt like one of those Looney Tunes characters who had an anvil drop on their head and it grew. Nevertheless, I trusted them on what they were doing. So, I went along with it.

"Now, we can head out," Sasuke said.

Thus, we continued over to the town. As we walked in, everybody went about their busy day as usual. But the… thing that bothered me… was that when they looked over at us… they did a double-take and then began to either stare or occasionally glance back at us. Maybe it was me or the way I wore my headband. Maybe it was because of Sasuke and Naruto's ability to gain a good ranking just by starting. Or maybe... it was something that happened that I didn't know of. But no matter what it was, I felt a bit uncomfortable from everybody staring at me.

"Thomas, it's okay," Sasuke said, "Just ignore them. You'll be fine."

I nodded as we walked through the square and up north to where I saw a waterfall gently rushing. Before that and the pond, there were several buildings that seemed to have rescue teams working at it. I guessed at the time it must be here that the Rescue Teams headquarters for Pokémon Square resided here. As we approached the entrance to it, both my brothers stopped me and turned to look at me.

"We'll just be a minute, Thomas," Naruto assured me, "You can't come over, because you're not part of a Rescue Team. But we'll be back shortly."

I nodded and thus they turned back and walked into where the buildings and pond were. I leaned against one of the entrance posts as they slowly left the sight of view. I began to think about some stuff. They were just beginners? But they had wiped out Pokémon that belonged to the trainers we battled in the human world. They showed off and took them out without a bead of sweat like it was nothing. Does that mean in this world, Pokémon are stronger here than in the human world? And if Sasuke and Naruto are "beginners", how powerful are Lucario and the others who are considered the best?

And the rescue team thing sort of bugged me too. I mean, I wasn't part of a team; I didn't even know how to fight. Does this mean that I would be left behind here when they go on missions? And if that's the case, who could I trust here to help me while I am here? And what if Sasuke and Naruto got hurt in a mission and I never got to see them again?

All this thinking was suddenly cut short when a rock (thrown at who knows how many miles per hour) smashed into the left side of my forehead. I let out a bit of a yelp as my head went backwards and I fell down. I gritted my teeth in pain as I held my head. That hurt… who even threw that at me?

Suddenly, those thoughts were cut when I heard a bunch of laughter getting louder. I looked up to see a gang of Pokémon walking towards me. Among them who seemed to be the leader was a Charmeleon. He was smirking as the group stopped a few feet away and he approached me.

"Jeez, you're lame. I can't believe you got hit by a rock," he said, "Anyone with a brain should've sensed it coming and dodged it."

The group behind him snickered and giggled a bit, leading him to smirk. Considering I didn't want to get into an argument, I took a different approach to it.

"Well, that's one way to make an entrance," I said, rubbing my head, "So, who are you?"

The Charmeleon scoffed and grinned as he said, "My name is King, and this is my territory, so you better be smart and leave Pokémon Square if you don't wanna get hurt."

-


	38. Chapter 38

I blinked at this response. I was getting pressured already by a Pokémon GANG? I mean, what was this guy's problem? I then remember how all those people were staring at me. Were visitors not welcome here? No. That can't be it. My brothers would've let me know by now before they left. I then looked up at the Charmeleon and rubbed where he threw the rock at me.

"What do you mean, your 'territory'?" I asked and slowly stood **back up** to my feet.

"This is my turf. I own this part of this here place," King said with a grin, "and you're **trespassing**."

I raised an eyebrow as my face showed an expression of EXTREME disbelief and said, "You honestly expect me to believe that you own a section of this place?"

King's face immediately got serious with an angry look and said, "Are you calling me a liar?"

The group all looked at each other; some with dread, and some with smirks. This was a sign that if I kept going like that, this King would get all up in my face. The last thing I need is to make an enemy on my first day of being here. So I shook my head.

"No, absolutely not," I said, "It's just hard for me to believe that this Wishcash Elder person would give a teenager a part of this place."

This caused King to growl and clench his fists. Oops. That wasn't the response I'd thought he'd give. But I kept my cool glance at him and then said this.

I said, "Besides, including that name, I only know five people here. I have no idea really what this place is; all I know is the name."

King and his group blinked in shock as they kept looking at me. Yes, it worked. It had calmed King down as he was **interested in** me rather than a bully.

"Really? You don't know anything about this place?" he asked.

"You know, now that he mentions it, King," a Scyther said, "I've never seen this Pikachu at all before."

"He might be new to Pokémon **Square**," a Yamask said.

"Ahh… so he's a new guy in these parts, eh?" King said as he smirked at me.

"Why do I get the feeling that by how he said that and how he's grinning that it's not good?" I thought.

He smirked at me and advanced a bit closer. He folded his arms and raised his head so he was looking down on me. He grinned as his tail swished.

"So, what's your name, newbie?" he asked me.

"M-My name is Thomas," I introduced myself.

"Oh, really? So, Thomas, why are you here?" he asked.

"At the entrance here?" I asked.

"No, bonehead," he said, making his group giggle a bit, "I meant in Pokémon Square in general."

I felt like rolling my eyes and saying rotten stuff to this guy. You can't call me a bonehead for that if you're not specific, dragon breath. Of course, I decided to still be nice.

"Actually, I was brought here by two Rescue Team members. They told me to wait outside here until they get back," I said with a smile.

The group gasped and talked amongst themselves. A part of me got happy and safe about that. It seemed that the Rescue Teams were kind of an authority or respected Pokémon around here. Judging by the actions and faces of the group, they might have been afraid they would get into trouble with the Elder or Rescue Teams if they messed with me.

But something wasn't right about King. He wasn't backing down. In fact, his grin actually grew and his eyes showed he was getting excited. He nodded as he chuckled to himself.

"So… if they brought you here, then that must mean you're strong, right?" he asked.

My face suddenly went pale. Oh, no. Don't tell me this Pokémon wants to duke it out with me here and now. I began to feel nervous as I shook a little.

"W-Wait, I didn't say that!" I said urgently.

"Hey, guys, circle us so he doesn't get away," King turned to the group and said, "I want to test how strong this guy is."

With that, his group slowly circled around us, preventing me escape. Oh crap, oh crap, oh CRAP! There was no way out of the circle. Even if I made a break for it, I wasn't certain that the Pokémon near it would attack me to send me back into the fight. And there was NO WAY I was gonna survive this fight with this King guy, even if I tried.

"Come on, pipsqueak," he taunted as he dropping into a fighting stance, "show me what you got."

"King, if you even blow smoke in Thomas' face, I'll douse your tail flame," I heard someone threaten King.

Everybody turned to see the person who would dare to try and stop this **match**. But as they saw who it was, everybody slowly backed away breaking the circle. However, it made my heart rise in joy and relief. It was Sasuke and Naruto, standing near the entrance. They had serious looks on their faces as they made their way over to me.

"OH, THANK GOD!" I exclaimed as I let myself fall on my rear and sit.

Naruto immediately rushed over to me and looked me all over as Sasuke stepped in between us and King. The puppy sniffed around to see if any blood was on my fur. When that was okay, he looked up at me.

"Thomas, are you hurt in any way?" he asked.

"Other than the fact that my forehead was drilled with a rock, no," I said.

It was then that Sasuke and Naruto got real scary and serious looks on their faces and glanced back to King, who was standing his ground. He looked back to see that the group that hung out with him was shaking and trembling in fear. He scoffed and turned to them.

"Look, if you all are scared, then go. I don't want to worry about you if you're only gonna act like cowards every time a Rescue Team member shows up. Get outta here," he said.

With that, the group collectively ran away from the area. What fragile bonds of trust and loyalty they had. They were willing to pick on the new guy… yet unable to stay when two strong Rescue Members show up? Pathetic. It was then Naruto stood up and helped me up, before looking at King.

"King… not again," he groaned, "That's the fifth time according to the town you've picked on someone who's not around these parts. For someone who wants to be a Rescue Team member, this isn't the way to get respect and show you're worthy of being one."

"Kid wasn't from these parts. I thought I would break him in," King said in a cool way.

"This isn't just some kid," Sasuke said, "This is our little brother."

"Your WHAT!?" King said with disbelief as he yelled angrily, "Sasuke, you and Naruto have lived here for ten years! No where among that time did this Pikachu live in Pokémon Square."

"That's cause we recently took him in," Naruto said, "And for the reason he's here with us, is because we're adding him to our team."

SAY WHAT!?

Naruto and Sasuke were adding me to their Rescue Team? Were they nuts!? I couldn't fight! What makes them think I could add to the team!?

"Are you kidding me!? You're honestly adding this kid to your team?" King asked in an angry voice.

"S-Sasuke! Naruto! I'm the one getting elected, and even I don't think that's a smart idea!" I joined in too.

Naruto winked to me lovingly and said, "Don't worry; we know what we're doing."

"He's our brother. We can choose to put him in if we want," Sasuke said.

King growled and said, "The pipsqueak couldn't even dodge the rock I threw at him!"

"You threw at like a hundred miles an hour when I wasn't paying attention! I was minding my own business! How could I have known!?" I yelled, in which if this was an anime, I'd have dinner-plate white eyes. (DON'T LAUGH AT ME!)

"Besides, Thomas just barely survived a Monster House, King," Sasuke further explained.

Huh? Monster House? What's that? Do monsters exist in this world? I don't know what it was, but it was apparently bad for King to gasp and somewhat look at me with pity. But why would Sasuke say…

Oh, I get it. This is the alibi. That smack on the head earlier was to show that I had survived this "Monster House" and still had some scars. I get it now. Very clever, you two…

"Dude, seriously? That's rough," King said.

"Yeah, he still has a major bump on his head from it," Naruto replied, "In fact, we're about to explain the whole story to Whiscash Elder, so Thomas can stay here."

"I'm gonna go in then and listen to it then. That way, I can understand why the kid is acting so foreign to us," King said as he walked into the entrance, "See you inside."

As he walked away, Sasuke and Naruto did one more body check to see if I had any injuries. After seeing where the rock hit me went back to normal and didn't hurt anymore, they hugged me and snuggled a bit. I blinked at them as they let go.

"We're sorry, Thomas," Sasuke apologized, "I honestly didn't think you would be one of King's victims."

Geez, already not even a full day into the Pokémon world, and people are already beating me with rocks. Hahaha! I must be that good…. Ehhehe…. Never mind.

"So, who is that King?" I asked.

Naruto answered as he sat down and itched his left ear with his left hind leg, "That would be King, one of the rising Pokémon here. He really wants to be part of a Rescue Team. However, to outsiders and younger Pokémon, he's known as the town bully."

"He's the younger brother of one of the members of Team A.C.T," Sasuke added.

"Team A.C.T? Who are they?" I asked.

"In the Pokémon Square, there are many teams. But there are five teams that are the strongest. These teams, in no order, are Lucario, Champ, Tactics, A.C.T, and Justice. Team A.C.T is a three-Pokémon team of Alakazam, Charizard, and Tyrannitar. They are the second highest rank possible of Diamond," Naruto answered.

"Charizard's fire is said to melt mountains. Tyrannitar's armor skin cannot be penetrated. And with a I.Q of over 5,000 and amazing psychic abilities, Alakazam is the leader," Sasuke added.

"Wow… this Rescue Team business sounds powerful…" I said.

"It does, but right now, it's time for you to meet the Elder, silly," Naruto said happily, "Follow us."

And with that, I walked with Naruto and Sasuke into the entrance. I was a little scared about meeting Whichcash Elder and joining this Rescue Team, but if I got to spend time with my brothers, then I would do it, no matter how scared I was.

-


	39. Chapter 39

As we walked into the area, I saw more of the gentle waterfall and that it led into the Whiscash Pond. As I entered in, I saw Pokémon having conversations. I didn't see anybody that I knew except that King guy, who was standing with his arms folded impatiently towards the pond. Out of the Pokémon there that I will mention and that will be in the story at some times later on, I saw a Snubbull, Lotad, and Bellsprout.

In the Pond was Whiscash Elder talking with some other Pokémon. I kept scanning the area and seeing the amazing place. Man, it was pretty. I looked as they continued to **chat** and my eyes gazed elsewhere.

But then, a certain Pokémon caught my eye. I looked over to see that there was a Lucario with a Riolu near him. They were talking together as the Riolu sat in his lap. Could it be… was that THE Lucario? I immediately tapped my brothers on their shoulders and was about to **talk**.

"I see you found Lucario and his son Batsu," Sasuke said smiling just as I was going to.

I sort of blinked in surprise, but whatever. I guess I was kind of predictable there.

"Batsu?" I asked.

"That's the name of the Riolu," Naruto said, "He is the tied as the strongest rookie of this year to be accepted into a Rescue Team."

"Wait… accepted?" I asked, becoming confused.

"Long story short," Sasuke explained, "Every year, the Pokémon Square holds the Rescue Team exams. These allow Pokémon who want to be Rescue Teams to be tested in order to be accepted. Naruto and I are about **to register**, so we can take the exams. And since we're here to get you to join the **application**, you're gonna take them with us."

He and Naruto smiled at me, causing me to as well. I was so honored about this. I couldn't believe it; they wanted ME to join their team. However, I couldn't help but look back at Lucario and Batsu. They seemed to be Pokémon of cool stature and wisdom. But it made my smile that they were laughing and smiling with each other. It made me happy for them.

"But then who's the other one?" I asked.

Naruto winked at me and said, "I'll give you a hint; he's the oldest of us."

My mind quickly scrambled inside of my brain's databases to **find** the answer. When I realized who it was, I widened my eyes and looked over to a blushing Sasuke. He was looking away from us as he couldn't stop smirking.

"Naruto, you know how I don't like that," he giggled.

"What? You are," Naruto replied, "You and Batsu are the two strongest rookies of this year."

"Congratulations, Sasuke," I smiled and said, causing him to blush more.

"Hee-hee, come on. Stop it," Sasuke giggled again.

It was then that Sasuke lost his blush as he and Naruto turned around when I heard a several Pokémon makes shushing noises. Lucario and his son stood up and acted serious. King brought his head up to see the Elder swim towards the edge. Sasuke and Naruto stood tall and straight as I stood with them.

"Welcome back, Sasuke and Naruto," Whiscash Elder said, "I'm glad that you are safe after your trip to Wish Cavern."

Sasuke and Naruto nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you, sir. We appreciate your concern for us."

The Whiscash nodded and replied, "Now for that matter at hand, you said that you have someone for me to be introduced to?"

Naruto then nudged me with his left paw and I walked forward, so I was in between him and Sasuke. The Elder then looked at me all over and nodded. The other Pokémon in the area especially eyed me. I must've have been a rare Pokémon in these parts. I noticed that King was still glancing at me too. Not only him, but Lucario and Batsu were as well. I knew King was glaring at me because he wanted too. But the way Lucario and Batsu looked at me… it's if they were looking for something… maybe potential?

"Hmm, a Pikachu in this area? That's strange," the Elder said, catching my attention, "Not a lot of Pikachus live in this general area. What's your name, my young man?"

"My name is Thomas," I answered.

"Where do you come from?" he asked.

Oh, boy. That's one of the things I'm NOT supposed to answer while I'm in the Pokémon world. This was bad. Stuttering and stammering though wasn't gonna help me. But Sasuke and Naruto looked so calm; were they covering up their nervousness? I decided to try to give an answer.

"Uhh…" I started to say.

"You see, Whiscash Elder, that's just it. He doesn't remember," I heard Sasuke say.

All the Pokémon in the area gasped and started to talk amongst themselves. I heard things like "Did he lose his memory?" or "What the heck is wrong with this kid?" King glared at me with an interesting yet surprised look as he looked over me up and down. What really had bothered me was that Batsu, immediately after hearing that, started to talk with his father in whispering. I wondered if that would be good or bad later, but I then I heard Whiscash Elder speak.

"Hm? He doesn't remember? What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Naruto spoke, "When we were traveling back from Wish Cavern, we witnessed a Monster House in progress. The victim was Thomas and he took a huge beating."

It was then all the Pokémon thus started to say things like "Oh, that poor kid," and "So, that explains it." But I was still a bit in the dark about what that means.

Upon seeing my confusion, Whiscash Elder said to me, "Considering I understand you lost your memory, I'll explain. Thomas, a Monster House is what we Rescue Teams refer to when a group of eight or more Pokémon launch a surprise attack on their target. It appears you seem to have lost your memory due to this attack."

Sasuke nodded and agreed, "Exactly. We were able to drive the Pokémon away, but Thomas had sustained critical damage to his head, as well as other parts of his body."

"Upon treating him, we asked him questions to determine just how badly he was injured," Naruto added, "He was able to tell us he was fifteen years old and his name, but that's all he could remember."

The crowd began to gasp and talk amongst themselves again. Whiscash Elder looked at me with compassion before turning back to my brothers.

"I might be a little pushy and if so, I apologize," he asked, "but just how badly was his injuries? How much of his memory is gone?"

Sasuke took a deep breath, had a sad look on his face, and said, "His injuries and memory loss were so bad… he couldn't remember how to walk. And now, he can't remember how to build up electricity or attack."

Everybody was shocked and surprised at this. I could hear stuff like "Dude, that kid got the stuffing beaten out of him! Literally!", "That's horrible, and he's an electric type even…", and "Geez, that guy is so lucky." I felt like smiling, since the alibi was working. It was then that all stopped speaking as Whiscash Elder cleared his throat.

"If I may, I'd like to see if his body has any scars," he asked.

AHA! THAT'S WHERE THE SMACK ON MY HEAD AND THE BUMP IT LEFT COMES IN! Again I say, very clever, you two…

Sasuke and Naruto gently led me to the elder as I then bowed my head, so he could take a closer look. He gently leaned forward and looked all over my body. When he got to my head, he saw the huge bump and gasped. He exhaled as if he had felt it and when I heard him swim to back up, I looked up. He had a face which showed more compassion.

"My goodness, Thomas. That's quite a bump on your head," he said to me, "It seems that's the only injury that hasn't healed yet. I can understand that you lost your memory from that. I'm truly sorry for you, Thomas."

I smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, sir. However, I am thankful for Sasuke and Naruto finding me and nursing me back to health. They've adopted me as their little brother."

The crowd had mixed emotions after that; some were happy for me and said sweet comments. Some were shocked that my brothers would do such a thing. But what caught my eyes was that Lucario, immediately after hearing that, bent down and starting whispering to his son. After a few seconds of this, despite him still whispering, Batsu looked at me and started to examine me from a long ways. I was getting a bit suspicious of those two. I mean, sure they might be good Pokémon and respected, but…

However, my thinking was caught off when I heard Naruto say, "That's why, sir, with your permission, we'd like to include Thomas into our Rescue Team. That way, he would be able to relearn how to fight and thus can stay with us."

Whiscash Elder nodded, and after a few moments of thinking, said, "Very well. Thomas, you are hereby now officially a part of Sasuke and Naruto's team."

I smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you, sir."

Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but smile too. I was happy that I could be with them. Sure, this fighting thing would hurt and it may be hard to pick up… but to me, it would be worth everything.

"SOMEBODY! HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Everybody gasped at someone's voice yelling as we all turned to see a Butterfree fly right into the Whiscash Pond area. I watched as she frantically stopped in the middle of the area, in front of the Elder.

"What's wrong, my dear?" he asked.

Butterfree said fearfully, "It's horrible! My Caterpie fell into a cavern! My poor baby!"

Everybody gasped in horror as Whiscash Elder replied, "What!? What happened?"

"A huge fissure opened from the ground, and my Caterpie fell in!" she said, "He's too young to crawl out of there by himself! I tried to go and get my baby, but Pokémon attacked me!"

Naruto widened his eyes and asked, "You were attacked!?"

"Why would the other Pokémon attack you?" King asked all of a sudden, interested in this.

"I have no idea why!" she replied urgently.

"Hmm… it may be that the fissure enraged them and they are out of control as the result," Sasuke said, calmly analyzing the situation.

"I'm not strong enough to fend off those wild Pokémon! Please, I need somebody's help!" Butterfree pleaded.

"Ma'am, please try to calm down for a bit so I can understand this. Can your child fight back at all?" Whiscash Elder asked.

"No! Like I said, he can't even crawl out of the fissure! Please! What am I gonna do? My baby…." she pleaded.

"Hmmm… alright, we'll get right on that immediately!" the Elder said, "We should send Team A.C.T down there and-"

"Whiscash Elder! Wait!" the Snubbull from earlier said, "About Team A.C.T; I thought they were on an assignment near Magma Cavern, attempting to rescue Minun and Plusle."

"That's right, I forgotten, Snubbull," he said, "They won't be back for some time…"

With that, he began to scratch his head with his whiskers as he thought out loud.

"Hmmm… Team Champ is also out on a rescue mission near Sinister Woods… Team Tactics and Team Justice are injured and recovering…" he said as he looked over at Lucario, "And I don't want to create all kinds of fuss by sending out Team Lucario…"

Suddenly, I felt some sort of rage, like a fire was building inside of me. What? How could he say that!? I got extremely angry all of a sudden, which was rare for me, as I stepped forward growling. Everybody was shocked at me; even Sasuke and Naruto blinked in surprise. The Elder looked at me and noticed I was angry.

"Thomas, is something wrong?" he asked me.

I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and said angrily, "Are you freaking serious?"

-


	40. Chapter 40

Everyone was appalled and stunned by the way my tone of voice presented the question. I had shocked the Elder and made Lucario a bit cautious. I could understand why. A teenager confronting the elder of a town? And plus, after I was just welcomed into his town? This would make the original me of when I first introduced myself into the story extremely nervous, but now I had gained confidence.

"E-Excuse me?" Whiscash Elder said, especially surprised.

"This **woman** just said her baby cannot get home or defend for himself, and you're actually taking your time to make up your mind on what team to send to rescue you?!" I raised my voice at him.

"You watch your tone of voice," I heard an adult say.

I looked over to see Lucario was staring at me very seriously. He had approached us with his son and was not too happy I just talked to the Elder like that. I looked up at him and saw that he was looking at me dead in the eyes. I could feel my brothers slowly walk behind me just in case.

"Do not **speak** to the Elder that way," he said, "You are even lucky that he is allowing you to live here. He is a very busy man. He will pick the right team when they come up."

"Oh, yeah? Then why didn't you **offer** first?" I asked back.

Lucario blinked and asked, "I beg your pardon?"

The crowds were murmuring amongst themselves about that question and how I wasn't backing down. I noticed either they shot me glares of irritation or glances of admiration. I remember seeing King raising an eyebrow and being surprised about the whole idea. I guess he was impressed I was able to stand up to Lucario like that. But his son wasn't that happy at all. In fact, he looked angry that I was even talking back with his father.

I noticed that Sasuke and Naruto had looks of concern and worry on their face. I realized that I was getting to the point where I was going too far. I mean, they just saved me from getting into a fight. And now I'm putting myself right **smack** dab into another one? I slowly calmed down and then explained my point.

"The reason I'm saying that is that I've been told you're the strongest Pokémon in the world. Your team is the best, right? So then, why didn't you offer your team immediately when this mother said that her baby was in danger? Is it that much of a fuss if a big-rank team go in?" I asked calmly.

"Actually, yes," Whiscash Elder gained my attention by explaining, "A lot of Pokémon sadly do not like Rescue Teams, because in order to rescue someone or do business, we go into their territories. So, sometimes… they like to attack Rescue Teams, sometimes for no reason."

I was shocked! There were Pokémon who would do such a thing!? Amazing… I never knew that territory was a big thing in the Pokémon world. I nodded, but then heard a conversation over to my right between the Snubbull, Lotad, and Bellsprout.

"Seems this Thomas has got a fiery attitude," Lotad said.

"And he's not only the little brother, but also the teammate of Sasuke and Naruto's team," Bellsprout added.

"So, what's the rank of this team? Was it Platinum?" Snubbull asked.

"No, they're lower than that; they're Silver," Lotad answered.

"Not like the A.C.T," Bellsprout.

"Yeah, they're Diamond Rank, and they're awesome," Snubbull said, with all of them closing their eyes and nodding.

As I overheard that, I turned to them and said, "It doesn't matter the rank!"

All three opened their eyes in surprise and looked at me as I said, "If this child truly can't fend for himself, then doggone it, we need to send somebody down there immediately! You shouldn't care if you make a fuss right now; the child's life is the top priority here! You need to send at least a team immediately to this place to rescue him!"

"Listen, you do not tell the Elder what to do. That is not your responsibility," Lucario said in a demanding voice, "You will let him decide when and who. Do I make myself clear?"

Like heck was this guy gonna be able to intimidate me like that. I just glared at him at him when I heard someone say something that shocked everyone, including Lucario which caused him to lose his authority.

"Actually, Lucario," Whiscash Elder said, "I agree with Thomas."

"S-Sir?" Lucario said stunned as he looked at him.

The Elder nodded and said, "If this Caterpie is truly unable to defend himself, he won't last long enough for us to dilly-dally and pick the suitable team for the job. He'll die before we even get the time to send the team into the woods."

I heard Butterfree gasp and start to pant. I could see her tears start to form in her eyes. My heart started to go out for this woman. I had to help her. It was then I heard Whiscash Elder speak.

He ordered, "Alright then… Sasuke! Naruto! Thomas! I know you three aren't an official Rescue Team yet, but I see that right now you are the best team for the job. See this as your pre-test to see if you're eligible for the Rescue Team Exams! Your mission is to go to Tiny Woods and retrieve Caterpie safely!"

Yes! I felt like I was able to prove something! I then noticed both Sasuke and Naruto salute with their left paws, so I did the same. It was then Lucario stepped up and then faced Whiscash Elder.

"Sir, if this is a pre-test mission, I would like to request my son Batsu to join them too," he said.

My brothers and I immediately looked at Batsu. He still had the calm yet unemotional look on his face as he stood next to his father and waited. I watched as Whiscash Elder slowly had a smile on his face appear. He nodded as the crowds then started to talk excitedly about the son of the Legendary Lucario being on this mission.

"Very well, Batsu may join, but Sasuke is the leader," he said.

Batsu nodded and says as he stood with me and my brothers, "Thank you for this honor, Whiscash Elder. I promise we won't let you down."

"Very well, now go!" Whiscash Elder ordered.

"Please save my baby…" Butterfree managed to say, "I can't live without him."

I smiled and did something that made everyone, no matter what they thought of me, admire me. I slowly fist-pumped my right hand to her and grinned. I winked my left eye and made a promise to her.

"Don't worry," I promised, "We're gonna get him back immediately with no problem. I can promise you that!"

With that, Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but blush of pride. They were proud of me. For a timid and paranoid boy, I was starting to come out of my shell and be a man. Butterfree smiled with confidence in our team. I was glad we were able to give her some comfort; nobody should have to go through that. Batsu was eyeing me especially, as if he was interested to know more about me. I wondered though if it was something else I wasn't getting.

"Alright, guys! Let's head out!" Sasuke ordered.

After that, all four of us thus ran out of the pond area and made our way to Tiny Woods. Everyone seemed to applaud us as we made our way out. I felt great; this was the beginning of an awesome experience. I was part of a Rescue Team. I was going to be able to help others. I felt great as my brothers, Batsu, and I ran out. However at the time… I didn't notice that King was growling to himself. He was tightening the fists he had made in his hands and was glaring at the direction we left. It was like… he was jealous of something…

-

As we ran through the Square, we turned to the west from where my brothers had brought me into the square. We kept running as we stopped around Kecleon shop and wares store. The reason we stopped is because Sasuke halted us to.

"Hold on," he said, "I'm just gonna grab some Pecha and Oran berries. It'll only be a quick second."

With that, he and Naruto quickly went over to the shop and met G.K and P.K for some purchases. While that was happening, I couldn't help but feel awkward and uncomfortable. I didn't try to look or stare, but when I glanced out of the left corners of my eyes, I saw that Batsu kept staring at me. I was starting to feel more uncomfortable. He wouldn't even blink; he just stared at me. It was like he was trying to do something… I just didn't know what. I mean, I've gotten some extraordinary glances from people, but… geez, come on.

"LOOK OUT!" I heard someone yell.

I slowly looked in front of me to see a huge green flash come at me at a hundred miles an hour. I gasped to see what looked like a Grovyle run with several stuff in his hand at a hundred miles an hour. He saw me and then ran faster. It was then he then threw his right arm out to grab me. I widened my eyes as he came closer.

Hearing the shout, my brothers turned around and saw the Grovyle. They immediately grew pale as they began to run back.

"Thomas!" Naruto yelled as they tried to help me.

But the Grovyle had gotten so **close** to me, they wouldn't be able to reach me in time. I was about to scream. My head wouldn't be able to move back in time as his hands grabbed for me. Then in a flash, I felt a slight shove from a paw knock me backwards. Before I made contact, I had seen Batsu slide in between us and pushed me with his left paw. He then punched the palm of the Grovyle's hand. The green Pokémon immediately took hold of his paw and pushed off, allowing him to flip over him and land behind me when I landed. But before he could do anything to me, Sasuke and Naruto were there guarding my rear as I was stunned on the ground.

The Grovyle seemed to eye me. I didn't know what the heck this guy's problem was, but it seemed I was his target. But at the time, I was still focused on Batsu, who was in his fighting stance and calm while facing the attacker. To be that fast... pushing me out of the way when the Grovyle had his hands inches away from my head that would've touched in milliseconds... If someone had blinked, they would've missed it. How on earth did this Riolu do that? And how much training did he have to achieve in order to execute that?

However, our staring stopped when the Grovyle looked past us to see a team of Pokémon chase after him. It was a team of Houndoom, Cofagrigus, and Mandibuzz, chasing after him.

"YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Cofagrigus yelled.

The Grovyle immediately turned around and ran away from us. The team ran right past, chasing after him. They shouted for him to stop as they continued to chase him. After they have gotten out of sight, Sasuke and Naruto immediately helped me up and brushed me off.

"Geez..." I muttered, "That team didn't even bother to stop and check if I was okay..."

"Yeah, Team Pitchblack isn't known for their gentleness and sympathy," Sasuke said.

"Thomas, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Naruto asked.

Well, my rear was sore from landing on the ground so hard, and that shove kinda stunned me, but yeah, I was perfectly fine. I nodded as I looked over at Batsu, who had his arms folded. He gave me a serious look.

"You let your guard down. If I wasn't there, he would've stolen your headband," he told me.

I felt a sweatdrop go down my face as I asked, "Um… did you NOT hear anything my brothers were telling about me back at the pond?"

Sasuke stepped forward and said, "Batsu, listen; I know you're the son of Lucario, and add that to your skills, you have a masterful experience with battles. But Thomas just got out of almost being killed from a surprise attack by multiple enemies. Plus, you know that you, me, and Naruto did not do the greatest jobs on the first missions we did. Please don't belittle him just because he wasn't able to react."

Batsu blinked in a collected way and nodded, "Very well, I shall leave it at that, then. Also, for your complaint, that thief and Team Pitchblack are like mortal enemies. Whenever each of them are in the general area together, everybody assumes there will be a fight, because they've clashed so many times."

"Wait…" I began to ask, "You said he was going to steal my headband? Who is he anyways?"

"His name's Zev," Naruto answered, "He's the local thief. He pickpockets and just likes to make mischief. You'll probably see him a lot getting arrested here."

"Wow… is he that good?" I asked.

Naruto nodded and replied, "Actually, yes he is. His dad, Sceptile, used to belong to Team Lucario before the incident."

"What incident?" I asked.

"Exactly ten years ago, there was a huge explosion that almost destroyed Tiny Woods and half of Pokémon Square. When teams went to investigate it, they saw Sceptile in the middle of it, with the detonation devices in his hands," Batsu finished, "Because of this, my dad's team, Team A.C.T, many other teams, and Whiscash Elder banned him from Pokémon Square and from ever being a team member again."

Whoa, that's rough. I started to understand why Zev became a thief. He must've been struck by this really hard that it caused him to drop all of his morals and lessons that his dad taught him and just do things his own way. I had compassion on him, for some reason.

"So, because of that," Naruto said, "He turned to a life of crime. He basically pickpockets anybody he can get his hands on. And thankfully, if it wasn't for Batsu, you would've been next."

I turned to Batsu and smiled upon hearing that. I nodded to him and thanked him.

"Thank you; I owe you a lot," I said cheerfully.

It was then Mr. Sunshine said, "Just don't get caught like this again in the mission; we can't afford any mistakes."

With that, he started to walk towards the bridge and wait for us. I kind of felt like getting fed up; I was nice to this guy, and he was being an emotionless uncaring warrior. Was he angry that I stood up to his father like that? Well, whatever it was, Sasuke snapped me out of my thinking as he placed his paw on my shoulder while Naruto got the berries from G.K and P.K.

"Hey, don't let him get to you; he's always like that," he said.

I nodded as Naruto handed the berries in a bag to Sasuke and said, "Let's hurry; Caterpie needs our help!"

We both nodded to him as we ran behind Batsu. Once the Riolu saw us, he joined in with us. We started to hurry off to the Tiny Woods. My heart started pounding with excitement as I went on my very first Rescue Team adventure!

-


	41. Chapter 41

We all ran over the bridge and past the bases, including our own. As we kept on going, I began to think about my attitude. I would have never gotten that aggressive before in my life before I heard Jirachi in my head and met my brothers for the first time. But after that, it seemed my patience was starting to shorten. Was this because I met them and crossed over into another dimension? Or was this a certain Pokémon trait that causes me to get aggressive?

However, I kind of got the idea that although I demanding that somebody should go save this baby, I was a bit clueless on where these woods were. But thanks to the alibi of success, I decided to use that, so Batsu wouldn't think I was stupid or something.

"Hey, I don't remember this area all too well, so can you tell me where the Tiny Woods are?" I asked.

"Tiny Woods is actually right past the West Rescue bases as you leave Pokémon Square," Sasuke said as we **continued** to run.

"It's not known for having the strongest Pokémon live there, so rescuing Caterpie shouldn't be a problem," Batsu said, "Yet, we still should try to remain calm and expect anything."

I didn't know how I was going to help, considering I didn't have any **training**. However, some **people learn** by experience. Maybe if I tried to fight and got used to it, I could learn.

"Okay, so we're looking for this so-called fissure that Caterpie had fallen into," Naruto said.

We continued until we got into the woods. We kept hurrying to search for this place. Sasuke then turned his head to Batsu.

"Batsu, try to see if you can use your aura to find anything near that fissure," he told him.

Immediately, Batsu closed his eyes and started to focus his aura into finding the **location**. As we ran through the grass, dodging tree branches, and carefully watching for roots to not trip over them, he kept searching for it. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke.

"There's a large energy pressure coming over from the right! Follow me!" he said as he started to run towards the right.

Thus, my brothers and I followed Batsu through the forest. Although he had some weird attitude, he was an amazing sensor-using and talented fighting Pokémon. I had to admit; he was really good. Suddenly, I realized that there was a clearing out in front of us. Suddenly, my eyes widened to the huge gaping hole in the forest floor. We stopped right at it, as it was examined everybody but me. Batsu used his aura to scan the area for any other Pokémon. Sasuke picked up several dirt clouds and rocks, while Naruto started to try to pick up a scent.

Naruto sniffed the area and said while doing it, "This wasn't any kind of attack, Sasuke; there are no scents of any type of Pokémon techniques here."

Batsu knelt down and examined the hole while saying, "It must be from a simple natural disaster."

Sasuke nodded and looked down the hole. He examined the height and depth of the fissure, before standing up and addressing us. We watched patiently as he calmly looked at us and cleared his throat.

"All right," he said, "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go down there immediately and go after Caterpie. Now here's the details. You are all to stay close. Do not go wandering off by yourself. Despite these Pokémon are not as strong as us, you can't be too careful on this."

He then showed up a brown bag and continued, "Some of the Pokémon in this area are Poison-types. Therefore, in this bag we have several Pecha berries that will cure of if you get poisoned. If you at all become weak, your vision gets blurry, or anything feels wrong, grab a berry and eat it. The Oran berries are only if you get tired or hurt. If we run out of berries, then let Batsu take care of you."

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"He has the ability to use aura so it can heal others," Naruto said, "That allows any health to be recovered or for any status ailments you receive to be immediately erased."

Wow…. So not only is this Batsu a great fighter and possess good sensor abilities, but now he's a medical expert? I was starting to get more and more impressed of him. He kept his cool. He had a good attitude. He was… scanning the area behind us? I turned to see him slowly motion Sasuke over to him.

"There's somebody in this area close by with us," he told my brother.

Sasuke immediately nodded over to Naruto. The puppy soon ran over and then got in front of me for my protection. I blinked in shock; was this going to be my first fight ever? I started to feel sick as I got extremely excited. Batsu then slowly started to scan the area around until he finally stopped. He then pointed with his paw to a certain bush.

"In that bush!" he yelled.

With that, Sasuke, out of nowhere, fired a huge Water Pulse attack at the bush. As it drew closer, I heard a scream and then a figure jumped out of the bush and landed near it. As the bush got soaked, we noticed that King was panting and breathing on the ground, staring at his hiding space!

"W-Wha? King!" Naruto yelled.

As King looked over at us, Sasuke said, "What in the world are you doing, King? You almost got serious hurt!"

King tried to act tough as he smirked, brushed himself off after standing, and said, "Heh, I'm coming along with you, whether you like it or not. This mission wouldn't succeed without me."

Batsu folded his arms and said, "You are not allowed to accompany us. You were not assigned to the mission, and therefore can get into serious trouble if you try to follow us."

"Oh, come on!" King said in an unbelieving tone of voice, "You honestly are not gonna let me come on a mission to save a child? I mean, that Pikachu can't even fight!"

My eyes showed a look of being unimpressed. Oh my word, was he still on my case on trying to fight me? This guy really was a bully. I blinked and rolled my eyes.

"Listen, although it's not really alright to let him join without the Elder's authority," Sasuke said, ignoring the insult about me, "fire attacks will be really good against the poison Pokémon we meet. Alright, King, you can join."

The Charmeleon smirked and grinned as he advanced nearer to the hole. He glanced over at me with a grin as he nodded. I was feeling a bit nervous with King now being on the team; I mean, he was the one who threw and smashed a rock on my head. He tried to run me out of town and then even pick a fight with me behind the backs of my brothers. I was a bit cautious even being close to me. But hey; if Sasuke decides to have him, then okay.

"Hey, keep an eye on me. I'll teach a few things about fighting, pipsqueak," King teased me and grinned more.

As I let out a sigh of discomfort, Naruto gave a bit of a growl, which King did as well. Considering I didn't want them to fight at all, I slowly petted the back of my brother. I suddenly saw his tail wag and him back off as he backed up and snuggled into my side. I giggled as he smiled and nuzzled into my waist. While that happened, Sasuke approached King and retold the rules. After we and Batsu waited for a while, finally Sasuke turned to us.

"Alright, remember to stay close at all times," Sasuke instructed, "We are called a TEAM for a reason, so although you're not used to each other, you gotta work together."

There was a slight hesitation from King, but all of us eventually nodded. With that, Sasuke smiled and turned to the hole.

"All right; let's get down there," he said as he grabbed the bag and jumped into the hole.

I was kind of got nervous as I looked at that hole. It was pretty huge and I was a bit fearful of getting hurt going down the hole and landing. However, it was apparent that King had seen my face with nervousness written all over it. He chuckled as he spoke.

"Hey, listen," he said to me, "If you can't even go down a hole, you should stay up here. You'll get scared and pee yourself if we get into a fight."

With that, he jumped into the hole after Sasuke. After he was out of the range of hearing, I did the baby-version of his sentence, where you go "Nyah", "Nyee," and "Blah." I made Naruto giggle at me for being silly. But considering we had a job to do, he placed one of his paws on me to tell me to go. With Batsu closing his eyes at me and jumping in, I followed with Naruto behind me. I felt a little scared, falling into the dark where I couldn't see. But as I landed, it was okay, being able to see the three that went before us.

As we all landed together, Sasuke looked around. He began to look worried as he looked around and began to fear.

"Uh-oh," he said, still looking around, "Caterpie isn't here…"

I widened my eyes and joined everyone in looking around. But to no avail. There was no Caterpie whatsoever around us. We then looked to Sasuke.

"Well," he said to Batsu, "can you find him?"

Batsu then quickly closed his eyes and scanned the area. We waited as he started to feel a bit uncomforting. He looked at Sasuke and talked.

"His aura isn't around here anywhere," Batsu said, "but he is alive. I can tell by the traces of the aura left behind he wasn't hurt."

"Remember what Butterfree said?" Naruto reminded, "When she tried to get Caterpie, the wild Pokémon attacked, preventing her entrance."

"Which means the little child got scared," King said annoyed and looked down the only dark pathway, "and thought the smartest idea would be to run into the more stronger and scarier-infested Pokémon areas…"

Sasuke sighed and said to King, "Give him a break, King; he's a baby and was completely scared by this assault. Then again, you're right. He's trapped and needs our help. So, everybody… get everything out of the way and focus on rescuing that Caterpie!"

-


	42. Chapter 42

We all nodded as Sasuke picked up the bag and then gave us our little **assignments**. He looked to us and thus began to **speak**.

"All right, **listen** up," he said, "We're going to explore this place in a single formation. So, we are to keep in a line and do not break from it unless it's combat."

He turned to King, who smirked, and said, "King, your tail is a flame that will light up the darkness. And considering you're revving to go, you'll be first. That way, you can light up the way as we go and make any poison-types think twice of attacking us."

Sasuke pointed to himself and said, "Then, I'll go next. Considering I'm the leader for this mission, it's best if I go behind King, so I can give you hand signals to stop or go."

"Thomas," I blinked and paid attention as he said my name, "You may not be able to fight yet, but I know you have the best observation skills, because you take the time to watch everything. Therefore, you're going to be in the middle."

"Naruto," Sasuke said to his brother who nodded, "You got a good nose to smell and ears that can hear if enemies or Caterpie is close by. But considering Thomas isn't a fighter yet, I'm putting you behind him just in case you need to protect him."

"And finally," he turned to see Batsu fold his arms with his emotionless look, "Batsu, your aura can sense any attacks from the front. But since we could be ambushed from a back attack, I'm putting you at the rear so you can scan around us for any hostile attacks."

All of us nodded as Sasuke motioned us to get into the line **formation**. I saw King walk in front of him, as I got behind him. After hearing Naruto and Batsu get in line, Sasuke motioned with his right paw to move. We began walking down the dark path.

It became pitch black as we left the fissure opening and journeyed deeper into the underground of Tiny Woods. It would've been a pain in the butt stumbling in the dark, if it wasn't for King's tail. I gotta admit; even though he irritated me to bits, he was extremely a great help.

So, there we were; walking down even-ground paths that did twists and turns. Nothing seemed to be any different. I kept looking around, despite that. Anything that would be suspicious, I would tell Sasuke. I decided to look at the ground for a while. As we kept walking, something caught my eye and made me stop.

"Hey, Sasuke, I think something's odd here," I said.

Everybody stopped as Sasuke turned to me and said, "What is it, Thomas?"

I pointed to what appeared to be a tiny puddle of water to our right. I was a bit suspicious on why it was there. I was eyeing it as my new bully gave it a stupid look and glared back at me.

"It's called a puddle, doofus," King said.

"I know what it is!" I said to him annoyed, "I'm saying, don't you think it's odd that it's down here?"

King widened his eyes as he realized what I mean and Batsu said, "He's right, King. There's no way rain could get down here to create one and nothing is dripping off of the ceiling. There's only one way that puddle could've gotten there."

Naruto stared at it a bit nervously and said, "Somebody… made it…"

Sasuke blinked response as he gritted his teeth, gently put down the bag, and said, "Everybody, be on your guard. It looks like we're not alone down here."

It was then I felt all tensed up. There was a possibility that an enemy could be nearby. I readied myself as every one of us looked around. Suddenly, my left ear flinched as I heard a noise coming from above. I slowly looked up to see a figure looming above us!

"GUYS! ABOVE US!" Batsu yelled, obviously catching it before me.

Everybody's head shot up and looked up as the figure dropped down and began to attack. It revealed to be a Wurmple, as it shot at us and began to attack.

"Everybody, get ready!" Sasuke warned.

The Wurmple shot out string attack at us a blinding speed. We all were able to dodge it perfectly, as Batsu stepped forward at it. Suddenly, he formed a shining rod that looked like Bone Rush and went to strike it. The Wurmple was able to dodge the first two, but got smashed in the side by the third one.

"My turn!" Naruto yelled as he ran at the Wurmple and unleashed a Shadow Ball attack.

The attack connected right in the front as the enemy laid shaking on the ground, but not out. I smirked at seeing the enemy being beaten, but then King shoved me aside and ran forward.

"Move out of the way, Thomas!" he said, "I'm super-effective against this guy! He's mine!"

With that, he started running towards the enemy and flames started to come from inside his mouth. But just as he was able to fire it, Sasuke noticed something and tried to stop it.

"KING, WAIT!" he yelled.

Just as King unleashed a Flamethrower attack and the fire shot out, a huge gust of wind from out of nowhere came back and sent the flames out. King gritted his teeth and turned with us to see that a Pidgey had joined the fight. The Charmeleon growled as he ran closer to the still dizzy Wurmple. He was about to do another Flamethrower.

"You're mine now!" He said, only for his shooting flames to be once again blown away by a gust of wind from Pidgey.

The bird smirked as he kept flying around the area. The Wurmple was able to get up and finally be ready for combat again. It was frustrating; that was a good save, but not helping for us.

King growled as he clenched his fists and said, "Sasuke! I can't finish this bug off if that stupid bird keeps putting out my fire! You gotta hold him off!"

"Right! Thomas, you stay back!" Sasuke said to me, "Naruto, you and I are gonna take on this Pidgey! Batsu, give King any help, but only when he needs it!"

"Gotcha, brother!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the bird.

Batsu nodded and stood behind King at the ready. I slowly backed away and watched the fight occur between the Wurmple against King and Batsu. The bug Pokémon tried Poison Sting, shooting it in rapid succession. King was able to dodge right past it, leaving them flying towards Batsu. Luckily, he made another Bone Rush to deflect them all in an instant. That left Wurmple wide open for an attack. King then charged up a Flame Wheel attack.

The Pidgey saw it and immediately tried to blow the fire away. But before it could get the attack off, it was intercepted by Naruto, who Sasuke had given a boost, and had rammed into it.

"Nuh-uh-uh!" he teased, "Your fight is with us, so pay attention!"

As the Pidgey tried to regain its focus, King had successfully smashed his fire into the Wurmple. The bug did a few rolls on the ground before it showed it had fainted. That left King and Batsu to immediately turn their attention to the bird. With that collective glare, all of them tea besides me launched a huge projectile attack combination of Water Pulse, Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, and Flamethrower at the enemy. It all shot at it as a huge explosion occurred, having smoke cover up the area where Pidgey was. We all watched carefully as the smoke started to clear. That way, if the bird was still there, we could be ready for attacking and/or defending.

Suddenly, the Pidgey flew out of nowhere and out of the smoke, catching everyone off guard. It flew through all four, causing them to shield their eyes from the wind. As it flew past them, it saw me. Suddenly, it started smirking as it began to fly at high speeds right at me!

"THOMAS! WATCH OUT!" Sasuke yelled to me as he looked back with the others.

It was then the Pidgey let out its call and came flying towards me with its talons ready to do any bodily damage to me. I sort of got really frightened. Every cell in my body went ice cold as it froze in fear. I just shook as it got closer and closer. Oh my gosh… I was gonna get hurt. I was gonna really get hurt if I didn't move!

It… it… was then… I don't know how to explain it, but my body somehow reacted to this, like it knew what to do when I didn't. I suddenly found myself cocking back my right arm for a punch. I was actually gonna hit this bird. Suddenly, the Pidgey realized I wasn't scared anymore and that it was on a direct collision course with my fist. It tried to fly up or away, but because it had put its lower half first in trying to claw me, it was too late.

My fist smashed right into the chest of the enemy, sending it flying back past the others. It smashed into the wall and slowly fainted as it rolled onto the ground. Our eyes got so wide, somebody could've plucked them out. I stared at my right fist. That didn't even hurt, yet I sent a Pokémon sailing through the air! How did I do that?!

My thoughts were cut short as Sasuke grabbed my arm, who had gotten the bag again, and said, "Guys, we need to move! This place may have more Pokémon in the area! King, lead the way outta here!"

With that, we all got back into our positions on the line formation and began to run for about several minutes. After getting a significant distance away from the ambush, we stopped for a quick breather. As we did, King stared with amazement at me.

"What the heck did you do?" he asked.

"I punched him in the chest," I said.

"No-no-no-no," King corrected me, shaking his hands and head as he approached me, "I know ya punched him. I'm asking, how the heck to did you send him flying like that?"

Batsu folded his arms and looked at me, saying, "A Pikachu normally doesn't have that much physical strength. I'm pretty interested now on how you did that."

"I don't know what I did," I said amazed, "I just got really tense and my body reacted with a punch. I really have no clue."

"Look, it doesn't matter what Thomas did right now," Naruto reminded us, "What's important is that we got those two outta the way and Caterpie is still in danger!"

"Naruto's right," Sasuke agreed as he kept holding onto the bag, "We need to keep going and find him before he gets hurt."

"Okay, so what do you propose we do in order to protect ourselves from attacks this time? What's our next move?" I asked.

"How about you stay still, so you don't get hurt?" we all heard someone say.

In an instant, without a sound or the slightest blur, somebody dropped down right behind me and grabbed me. I let out a surprised startled yell as I was flipped with my kidnapper in the air and landed a far distance away from them. As I regained my senses, I noticed I was forced to sit down and my arms were pinned to my sides by two green arms. I was tightly pressed against a green left leg while the other leg was on its knee. I looked up to see it was Zev! That Grovyle that tried to steal my headband back at Pokémon Square!

He smirked as he looked down at me and said, "Hello, little Pikachu. I hope you remember me, cause I remember you. And I also hope my leg and arms are comfy for you, cause you're gonna be here for a while until your little comrades meet my demands."

I got fearful as I just stared back at him. I didn't dare to move, because I was afraid he would hurt me if I tried anything. He said he remembered me; that wasn't good. I was guessing he was pretty upset then about that time he failed at stealing my headband because of the others.

"THOMAS!" I heard Naruto yell as the four teammates of mine ran to me.

"Hold it right there!" Zev said, causing the four to stop.

King and Naruto growled at him intensely, Batsu gave a cold glare at him, and Sasuke kept his cool but focused on me. It seems this Grovyle's reputation as a thief made him not so popular.

"Zev, let him go. He's done nothing against you. Your grudge is with us," Sasuke said.

"Actually, I've got nothing against him," Zev smirked and said menacingly, "But if you don't meet my demands or you try to pull something funny… let's just say your Pikachu won't be getting out of this with just a scratch."

-


	43. Chapter 43

"No! Zev, please," Sasuke begged, not daring to take a **step** forward, "Listen, we don't want any trouble. Please, just let Thomas go."

"Nuh-uh-uh-uh…" Zev playfully taunted him, "You gotta meet my demands and then I might just let him go."

"Okay, fine," Batsu said calmly, "Let's hear your demands. What is it you want?"

Zev taunted me by rubbing me against his leg and stroking my right cheek. I grunted, closed my eyes, and was forced to feel this as he chuckled at me. He could tell it bothered Naruto and Sasuke, who had gotten gravely angered faces at it. They were shaking with anger as they kept their eyes fixed on me. King and Batsu did the same, but not with so much intent of helping me. He then answered Batsu.

"That **bag** of yours… that has berries in it, right?" Zev asked, "I want it."

"W-What?" Naruto said, going from angry to stunned, "But we need the bag and the berries in it for the mission we're on."

Zev shook his head and kept rubbing my face in a taunting way as he said, "Then I guess you don't care about this Pikachu. Is that what you're saying?"

"No! Of course, we care about Thomas!" he yelled back.

"Good. Then give me the bag," he said.

"Rggh, this is so stupid!" King roared, "For crying out loud, Zev, there're berry trees outside with the same freaking berries that are in the bag! Why don't you just go outside and pick them instead of messing with us!?"

"Because picking berries off a tree isn't as fun as messing with people," Zev smirked and said, "I mean, you should know as well, King."

"What'd you say!?" the Charmeleon yelled.

"Oh, come on," the Grovyle replied, "Bullying is your favorite pastime. You mess and pick on anybody you can get your hands on."

Well… Zev did have a point. King did his best to pick on me, that's for sure. I looked to see King clutch his fists in anger and then fold his arms with a snort. He growled as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Hmph, whatever. Look, Sasuke, we're wasting time here," he said, "Let's just leave Thomas here for now and-"

"Unacceptable!" I was shocked as well as King to hear Sasuke yell at him, "I refuse to let my little brother be abandoned like that!"

Zev's eyes blinked in surprise as he looked down at me. He still kept a firm grasp on me, but he was a bit taken back. He looked back at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.

"Your… little brother?" he asked, "Kind of late to just be revealing you have another brother, don't you think, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed and said, "Long story short, Thomas survived a Monster House, but lost his memory. Naruto and I have taken him in as our little brother until then. He doesn't remember anything but his name. Please, Zev, let him go."

The thief looked down at me and then **back up** at them while saying, "It must've been a sad sob story and a heck of a beating to get the knowledge he once had smacked out of him. But then again, it's his sob story and not mine. So, just give me the bag and I'll be going."

"Tch… what a shame," Batsu said as he and the others gave a stare-off with Zev.

I knew that I wasn't gonna be much help in fighting. But I didn't want the team and I to go fighting this unnecessary battle. Wait… that's it…. What if Zev helped us just this once? Yeah… that was good. I smirked as I slowly cleared my throat.

"All right, we'll give you the bag and the berries in it," I said with a smirk.

The other members of the team blinked in surprise as King shook his head in **disbelief**.

"Thomas, are you freaking nuts!? We NEED them!" he yelled at me.

"Heh, looks like the Pikachu at least has a brain," Zev said confidently.

"Not only that," I said confidently, "but I'll also give you my headband, the thing you tried to take the first time you saw me."

"B-But Thomas, that's your most prized possession!" Naruto said as he tried to urge me to reconsider for my happiness.

"Well… that's extremely nice of you, kid," Zev said as he grinned and tried to slowly take it off my head, "I'll take that too."

I grinned as I continued, "However, all of this will be yours on one condition."

Zev gasped in surprise as he stopped and thus held me again. Batsu stared interestingly at me. I bet he as well as everybody was wondering what I was doing. I smirked as I looked up at Zev's face.

"That one condition is… you have to help us with this mission," I said.

Well, I gotta tell you; never in my life have I seen surprised faces that shocked before in my life. That was maybe one of the last expected moves anybody would've thought that a Rescue Team member, let alone me, would pull; a Rescue Team member bargaining with a thief? Wow, I didn't think at the time if I would get into trouble for this, but currently it was the best move.

Sasuke and Naruto immediately started to smile confidently at this. They knew now that I wasn't going down without a confrontation; maybe not of fighting, but a confrontation nonetheless. King wasn't so thrilled about the idea; he looked more peeved off now that I'm trying to strike a deal with Zev. But he kept his mouth shut. Batsu was analyzing me. I don't know why he kept interestingly look at me, but it was for a split-second that I wondered maybe that conversation he and his dad had back at the pond was for him to watch me…

"Excuse me? You're trying to force me to bargain with you? Not a chance," Zev said as he rubbed me against his leg, causing me to grunt, "I mean, what makes you think you can tell me what to do to get that bag? I mean, I have you as a hostage. I could hurt you if I want."

"Yet... you won't," I said confidently.

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" he said as he tilted my head up to look at his face which was getting annoyed.

"You just said to us to give you the bag and then you'll leave, right?" I said grinning, "That implies to me that you don't want a confrontation with us. You just want to grab the goods as fast as you can and get out. Also, it would be a drag for you to have tangle with not just a team, but with the two strongest rookies of Pokémon Square, along with three other strong members. And considering Sasuke and Naruto care about me, if you harm me, they won't let you go. Period."

Zev was taken back at my bold and long statement. Obviously, this plan of his had backfired. He was NOT expecting me to stand up like that. But if he started to become afraid now, the other members of our team might try to advance. So, he rolled his eyes and acted cool.

"Whatever," he said, "Besides, how can I trust you that you're gonna give me all these things if I let you go? You might just try to pull a fast one on me."

"Because I just admitted I'll let you have the bag, the contents of the bag, and MY MOST PRIZED POSSESSION if you just cooperate! I'm not asking for you to join the team; I'm asking for you to lend us a hand just this once!" I said to him, "I promise on my word as a Pokémon that I will personally give you all three items at the end of the mission, okay?"

Zev was again taken back by this. I'm sure he had gotten those fake promises of a Rescue Team member or whatever, but to have a promise as a Pokémon would mean I was scum if I betrayed him. In other words, it was a very powerful and trustworthy promise. Zev was silent for a bit as he slowly nodded.

"Okay, so say if I accept," Zev asked, "What is this mission?"

"We're rescuing a baby child, a Caterpie, who fell in here," Batsu said.

"A… baby?" Zev said shocked, "What on earth is that child doing here?"

"You know that fissure you entered so you could find us and loot our stuff?" King said, pointing behind him, "It was a natural disaster. It opened up on Caterpie and he fell in."

"His mother tried to get him out, but the Pokémon here were enraged about the fissure and prevented her from entering," Naruto explained, "And being scared and unable to get out himself, Caterpie ran deeper into this place."

"That's why we're here," Sasuke said, "Our mission is to rescue Caterpie and get him back to his mom safely."

Zev looked down at the ground as he became silent. All of us were kind of confused at what was wrong with him. He took a deep breath and calmly closed his eyes.

"Look… I may be a thief… and I might've forsaken all my morals…" he said.

To our surprise, he slowly let go off me and stood up. He then nodded as he got a serious look on his face and opened his eyes. He then turned to Sasuke and continued speaking.

"But I still have honor left in me… and a child's life is more to me than my wants or the things I steal," he said boldly.

I could tell that nobody from the team expected him to join us. I smiled; the plan worked! I wasn't scamming him or anything; I just had gotten him to know that, hey; there's a child here that needs our help. We'll give you what you want after we rescue the child, we promise.

"Sasuke," I said, "I know the berries are for the mission, but let's at least save three or four. I want to keep the promise I made Zev."

"All right, Thomas. I promise I'll keep at least three left," he said.

I turned to Zev and said, "Sasuke has us in a single line formation, but you don't have to be in it. However, it would be good if you stayed close to us, okay?"

Zev closed his eyes again and nodded. Good, at least he was going to cooperate. That was the best part; getting him to listen. I then nodded to Sasuke, who then motioned us to keep going. We then continued down the pathway.

-

After ten minutes, I was noticing that we still were not gaining any ground. We were still in our single line formation, with Zev walking on the opposite side. We kept walking side by side as finally I was proved wrong; it was then I saw a huge opening. It was then Sasuke signaled us to stop. Zev kept walking, but made sure to turn around and stop after getting a bit near the entrance. It was then Sasuke was squinting, looking at the open area.

"Wait a second… that's… Caterpie!" he said.

"Really?! Is it really him!?" I said.

"Yeah! All right, everyone, let's move forward, but stop at the entrance of the open area," he replied and then ordered.

It was then the six of us hurried over to the entrance. Now, as you got to this place, there were tons of rock slabs in the middle that presented cover for either side. There was a huge rock slab on the entrance of the right that prevented you from seeing what was on the other side until you get into the actual area itself. And on a rock in the middle of the room was poor Caterpie, crying in which it made my heart go out for him.

"Mommy… where are you… sniff… WAAHH! I wanna go home!" he cried.

I looked at Sasuke, who nodded to me that it was okay to call to him. I put my hands near my mouth and then took a deep breath.

"Hey, Caterpie!" I called out.

The child immediately turned around and saw us. His eyes were drenched in tears as I called again.

"It's gonna be okay! We're here to rescue you!" I called again.

"R-Rescue me?" he asked in shock.

"Yeah! Your mom sent us to get you!" Sasuke called out.

"I wanna go home to mommy!" Caterpie cried out to us.

"Hang on, little buddy!" Naruto called as he got ready to run over, "We're coming to get you!"

But before he could even get past all of us, Zev put a hand out blocking his path. The brother of mine stopped and looked up at the Grovyle, who was scanning the area for anything.

"Hold it, puppy," he said, "Don't you think this is a bit suspicious?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Think and use your head," Zev replied, "We're in an open-dome area that is completely quiet… Caterpie is sitting on a rock in the middle of the room crying… and this slab prevents us from see the right part of the room until we run right into the middle of it… doesn't that scream, oh, I don't know… 'TRAP!' to you?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's right, Naruto," King said, "We have no idea if there's another Pokémon here. And it's too risky for us to just barge in and rescue him."

"Hang on, let me try something," I said.

I then turned to Caterpie and called, "Caterpie, we want to make sure you're safe! So, we need you to tell us; is there anybody else in the room we should know about?"

It was then Caterpie started to shake in fear even more and sweat like crazy. What also made it more clear to us was the fact he began to slowly stare at the right where we couldn't see.

"He got pretty scared when you asked that, Thomas," Sasuke said, "Which means there's probably a Pokémon on the other side of this rock wall."

"Make that there IS, Sasuke," Batsu said, who was using his aura to scan the area, "There's a huge aura coming from behind this wall. That means that there's some Pokémon we don't know about that is a danger to Caterpie and will hurt him if we're not careful."

-


	44. Chapter 44

My teeth clenched together as I heard that. So, there was somebody who was hostile behind this rock slab. I began to get nervous as Sasuke pulled my arm. I looked to see he was getting everybody in a circle and thus began to make a plan.

"All right, Sasuke, what do we do?" Naruto asked.

"Well… we first need to determine what kind of Pokémon it is," Sasuke said and turned to Batsu, "Can you tell at all?"

"Yes… it looks like an male Ariados. A big one," Batsu told him, "We'll need to exercise caution against it."

"All right, here's what we're gonna do," Sasuke said to us, grabbing our attention, "The first plan is this. I'm going to go out first by myself."

"WHAT!?" Naruto said as we all gasped, "Sasuke, you can't go out there by yourself!"

"Listen, we don't need to try to fight Ariados immediately. If we can talk to him reasonably, then maybe we can get out of here and bring Caterpie with us," he replied calmly.

I didn't like the idea at all. Sasuke going by himself alone? That was CERTAINLY gonna work…. **Enter** sarcasm here. I didn't like it at all. That was way too risky and way too shady for it to work. I then got the idea that everybody agreed with me.

"Listen, Sasuke," Zev said, "I'm not part of the team, but that's suicide. You darn well know that Ariados is most likely going to attack you."

"I know, but we have to try," Sasuke nodded and replied, "If we can just get Caterpie and then get out without a confrontation that could cause injuries, then that's the best path. So, here's what will happen. I will go outside and say that I'm here for Caterpie and try to talk him down. If that fails, we'll have no choice but to fight. Here's how we'll do it."

He looked over at Batsu and said, "Batsu, most likely this Ariados is going to be on a web of some kind and will prefer to attack from long range. So, I'm giving you the option of doing one of two things. Either try to get up **close** and kept attacking, or make stronger long-range attacks so that he can't get one off because he has to dodge or block yours."

"I'll do what I can depending on the situation, Sasuke," Batsu nodded.

"All right... Zev," Sasuke said, looking over to the Grovyle, "I want you to be careful."

"Don't tell me what to do; I'm not part of your team," Zev said.

Oh, man. That was not a good thing to say or do. Right now, we needed to rescue a child in danger. The last thing we needed was an argument amongst ourselves. But surprisingly, I was kind of proud of how my older brother handled the situation. He calmly smiled and shook his head.

"No, I'm not going to give you an order," he said, "I'm just asking you to be careful. Ariados is a bug and poison type; a big weakness, since you're a grass type. He's a bad enemy for you, so please be careful."

Sasuke then turned to King, who smirked, and said, "King, we're actually going to rely on you the most here. You're a fire type which means your attacks will do the most damage here. Since you can do whatever you want, I'd though suggest you play it safe and not put yourself at risk by fighting up close."

King smirked and nodded, stretching his arms out. It was then that Batsu got his attention by placing a paw to show he wanted to speak.

"I'd though would like to advise King to use extreme caution. If Ariados sees that a fire-type is present, he may try to take you out first. If that's the case, you can't afford to be reckless. You'll need to play it smart," he said.

I was pretty sure that King wasn't so thrilled in getting instruction like that. I'm pretty sure he wanted to run wild if there was a battle. But nevertheless, he… well… kinda agreed to it with a slow nod.

"What about me?" I asked, oblivious to that at the time.

"Your job is to get Caterpie and get him to this entrance. Once you do, everybody will fall back and escape this place. Don't worry; Naruto is gonna back you up," Sasuke said.

I then felt a gentle nudge from a cold wet nose as I smiled. Naruto rubbed his face against me and wagged his tail smiling.

"Don't worry about a thing, Thomas!" he said cheerfully, "I'll protect you no matter what!"

I smiled and felt reassured as he said that. But… I knew that Caterpie needed protection the most.

"Actually," I told Naruto who blinked in surprise, "Caterpie comes first. If Ariados attacks him, forget about me. You go after him first, okay?"

Naruto nodded and snuggled into me, saying, "Just be safe, okay?"

I nodded and Sasuke said, "All right… here I go."

With that and still holding onto the **bag**, he signaled us to be stay in our positions as he slowly went to the edge of the rock slab. He quietly got to the end and then slowly walked sideways across the room. He then widened his eyes as he took a deep breath.

"That's one huge spider," he muttered under his breath.

I blinked in response to that; he was huge? How big was he? Ariados are not that big to begin with... Does that mean the Pokemon here can be totally different size than in the human world?

With that, he kept his cool and kept going towards Caterpie. Suddenly, we all heard a roar and then were about to charge. But Sasuke's paw signaled us to stop where we were as he faced where the spider was.

"Hello," he said peacefully, "Please let me speak. My name is Sasuke and I was sent here with a few friends to rescue Caterpie here."

He kept stepping closer to Caterpie in baby steps, hoping he could get there. He slowly gulped and spoke again.

"Listen, I understand if you and the other Pokémon near here are angry about what happened with the fissure. But you need to know; it's not Caterpie or his mother's fault. It was a natural disaster," he explained.

After another roar, he continued, "I promise, once we get Caterpie out of here, we'll leave. We mean you no harm. Please let Caterpie go; he's just a child."

We heard another roar as Sasuke **continued** to reason with this Ariados. At first, I didn't understand it. I mean, don't get me wrong. I was a Pokémon and such… but maybe I wasn't used to Pokélanguage just yet. So maybe that's why I couldn't understand, but at the time, I didn't know that even if Pokémon roar, that's still a way of speaking. Because of this fact, Sasuke could understand him and keep talking. However, King was starting to get impatient. Really bad.

"Grr… He's taking way too dang long," he said, "We should go in and get Caterpie all ready."

He began to stand up and try to run over, but a paw from Batsu stopped him. He turned to look at the serious face of the Riolu holding him back.

"King, your orders were to stay here. Do not disobey Sasuke; you'll put him and Caterpie in danger," he said.

"Don't tell me what to do!" King yanked his arm free.

"King, listen to us," Naruto said, "If you go out there, Ariados is most likely going to attack. You need to listen to Sasuke right now and-"

"Rghh! I've had it! Stop telling me what to do! I'm going in to get that Caterpie, whether you or Sasuke like it or not!" King yelled as he charged over to where Sasuke was.

"Ugh… he's such an idiot, he doesn't even know how much danger he put Caterpie and all of us in," Zev said, shaking his head.

I gasped as I saw him run out into the field of view. Suddenly, there was a huge roar that sounded angry and chaotic. Sasuke immediately looked around to see if anything had ticked the Ariados off. Once he saw King, his eyes widened and Caterpie started to cry again.

"King! What are you doing!? I told you to stay back!" he yelled, startling the Charmeleon.

Suddenly, the whole area shook from a humongous roar that almost sent me off my feet. It was so surprising, that I wasn't expecting it. Suddenly, both King and Sasuke flinched as they saw something coming from Ariados' direction. I then realized it was an attack as both dodged out of the way safely. Batsu then stood up.

"I guess we have no choice now. Let's get out there and help! Remember your jobs!" Batsu said.

With that, my heart started to beat louder as I stood up and looked towards Caterpie. I watched as the others ran to face Ariados. I nodded as I could feel the adrenaline rush through my body. I was faced with a fight-or-flight feeling, but I knew I couldn't run away. Not now. Not ever again.

I thus ran as fast as I could over to Caterpie. I surprisingly did well for running on all fours, since this was my first time in doing so. I got a chance to see that although King had disobeyed Sasuke, he was doing his job of keep Ariados distracted with the others long enough for me to get over to Caterpie while Naruto protected me. He was shaking in terror as I approached him.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here now," I tried to comfort him.

"Please… help me… I want my mommy…" Caterpie cried.

Suddenly, he clutched into my chest, hugging me. I felt so honored that he needed me, that he wanted my help. I wouldn't let him get hurt. I slowly wrapped my arms around him and rubbed his back.

"Shh, it's gonna be okay," I said with a smile, "Okay, Caterpie, what I need you to do is to walk calmly with me by my side. Can you do that?"

He slowly nodded his little head and began to walk with me back towards the slab. I didn't pay attention to the battle, but I kept notice of Naruto guarding me. I remember feeling Caterpie shaking and clutching to me. I felt so chilling yet honored. Is this what it felt to be a Rescue Team member? To rescue someone like this… it felt wonderful.

It wasn't too long that I was finally able to get Caterpie over to the rock slab. Then, Sasuke turned to see me and Naruto there. The puppy nodded to our older brother. Then, Sasuke turned to the others.

"Guys, we got Caterpie! Let's get going!" he ordered.

With that, the group started to head over to the rock slab. I didn't get a chance to look behind me, but I could see the others start to run behind me. I continued to hold onto Caterpie as we got a fair distance from the entrance and stopped. We all started to take a breather as we looked at Caterpie.

"Caterpie, are you okay?" Sasuke asked. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"N-No, I'm fine…" Caterpie said, starting to become happy.

We all smiled as Naruto said, "Good, we're happy to see you unhurt."

He gave a special little lick to the child, making him laugh. I smiled that he was happy and okay. It was then Sasuke nodded to us.

"Okay, then, let's get out of here and help Caterpie to his mom," he said smiling.

We all started to walk back calmly. Phew, I was glad that was over. I felt like I did good on that mission. I may not have fought, but to rescue Caterpie was a good feeling. This team was a bit shaky, but we did good. The five of us really pulled through and… wait a minute… FIVE? … Uh-oh…

"Guys?" I asked nervously, "Where's Zev?"

All of them stopped to look among us. Zev wasn't with us. This was bad. We all tried scanning the area, but to no avail. The Grovyle was nowhere to be seen. King then growled a bit.

"That stupid idiot," he muttered, "He probably ran off with our stuff."

"Impossible," Batsu said, "Sasuke has been holding the bag the whole time through the fight."

True enough, Sasuke was clutching right onto the bag, which hung over his right shoulder. King blinked in surprise as we looked around. Then where was Zev if he didn't steal our stuff already?

"Batsu, is he nearby? Can you sense his aura?" Sasuke asked.

Batsu did a quick scan and shook his head, "No. He never came this way. His aura isn't here."

"But that can't be right," King said, pointing back to the area, "The guy was right behind me when we were running to safety."

All of a sudden, our faces turned to dread. Sweat ran down my face as I felt scared and cold. We all slowly looked back to the entrance.

"D-Does that mean… Zev didn't make it?" Caterpie asked fearfully.

"You mean he's still back there!?" I yelled in shock.

"No… Ariados must've captured him!" Naruto said, whining in concern, "Sasuke, we have to go back! He's in trouble!"

"No, that's not a good idea," Batsu told Sasuke, "We got Caterpie. That was the mission; we need to get him out of here and back to his mother before he gets hurt."

I just looked at him with disbelief. Was this guy serious? Did nothing of what I promised Zev mean nothing to him? He wanted my brother to order us to leave Zev behind, where he could get extremely injured, and he has the guts to act like it's no big deal! I couldn't believe him!

"Look, Sasuke," Batsu said again, "We need to worry about Caterpie right now. He's our top priority."

…

No.

"But we can't leave Zev back there like that!" Naruto defended, "If he even gets hit with even one poison or bug type attack, he'll be done for!"

"Geez, just leave Zev behind," King said with a scoff, "He had this coming anyways. Besides, I'm pretty sure another team can come rescue him."

No.

"You know that's a lie!" Caterpie tried to assist Naruto, "Almost all of Pokémon Square hates Zev! There's no way any team would take that request! Look, I'm one you're trying to rescue, and I say you guys go back and help him!"

"… As much as I want to agree with Naruto and you, Caterpie, you were the one we were told to rescue," Sasuke said, taking a deep breath, "All right, we're going back to Pokémon Square. We'll immediately put up a notice that Zev is in trouble and he needs help."

As Caterpie and Naruto looked down in worry, Batsu nodded with agreement as King shrugged and said, "I got nothing personal against the guy, but that's what it's gonna be."

"No."

Everybody was surprised as they turned to me. I had my face down where the shadows covered my serious look. I was shaking with determination and had my fists clenched. It was then Caterpie widened his eyes and slowly, without me noticing at the time, started to admire me.

"What? What did you say?" he asked me.

It was then I gave a serious and noble look as I said, "I made Zev a promise. I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I RESCUE HIM."

-


	45. Chapter 45

"W-What?" Naruto asked, as all were stunned by what I said, "T-Thomas, you can't go back alone! It's too dangerous for you!"

"I don't care! My safety isn't the concern here. You just said it yourself, Naruto," I said, "Zev won't last a single attack or more. We can't risk his safety like that."

"Um… I'm not sure if you're brain-dead or you just turned off your thinking," King said, raising an eyebrow, "But you don't know how to fight at all. How would you be able to even save Zev?"

"I'll find a way," I fired right back at the surprised bully, "I'm not listening to you if you're gonna try to change my mind."

"Thomas, enough," I heard a serious voice from Batsu say, "I may not be the leader on this mission, but your brother is. And he just gave us an order and we must follow it."

"I love my brother, and I mean him no disrespect, but you can follow it if you want," I said, "But I'm going back."

I didn't see at the time, but my brothers couldn't stop smirking. They were proud of me and what I was doing, but I bet they didn't want Batsu or King to see them smirking. However, the Riolu wasn't going to let me go easy.

"Sasuke gave you an order," he said seriously and directly, "You are to follow it. Understand?"

"Shut up."

Batsu blinked in surprise as everybody gasped. I'm guessing that was something I wasn't supposed to do… but at that time, I could've cared less. I had a stare off with the Riolu who was glaring at me dead in the eyes after that.

"Thomas, are you insane?" King asked with a grin, expecting me to back off once he said his piece, "You're arguing with the strongest Pokémon rookie and the son of the Legendary Lucario. Are you trying to get into a fight with him?"

"King…" I said, causing him to lose his grin and just stare at me, "I don't care who he is, who his father is, or how strong he is. And you're not gonna help him intimidate me."

As he growled, I surprisingly growled back enough that even Batsu himself sort of backed off. I looked at King dead in the eyes, and he slowly backed off. I then calmed down.

"I don't care what bad deeds he's done," I said, "You're honestly telling me to leave somebody behind, when they're in danger and they could get hurt? No way! I don't care if you try to talk to me or try to beat me up in order to stop me, but you won't! I made a promise to Zev as a Pokémon, and I'll be scum if I betray him! I don't care what you try to do! You're not gonna stop me from helping him!"

With that, I ran past my brothers and back to where the dome-area was. At the time, I didn't know that the following conversation happened. All of them seemed to be silent as then Naruto growled and slammed his front paws down.

"HE'S RIGHT!" he yelled, "What kind of a Rescue Team are we if we rescue one person but forsake another one? We're supposed to help anybody in need, no matter what!"

"I agree," all heard a voice from Sasuke say.

Caterpie's eyes sparkled as he got happy and said, "Really?"

"Ah, come on, you guys can't be serious!" King said, unbelieving this change.

"Very well. What are your orders, Sasuke?" Batsu said, ridding himself of any emotions.

"We're turning around and saving both Caterpie AND ZEV," Sasuke said as he and Naruto smiled.

-

I could feel my feet barely touched the ground as I ran forward like crazy to the area from where we rescued Caterpie. My stomach no longer had "butterflies" in it; I was determined to get Zev out of there and help him. A part of me got surprisingly amazed at what I did. I just rebuked an order… from my leader… from MY BROTHER! And then before anyone could speak, I took off like a bullet and ran back. When did I get so noble?

It's gotta be because I'm a Pokémon now. There's no way that I would've done that in the human world. I sorta got a tiny bit nervous as to if my brothers would be a bit peeved at me for disobeying. Oh well. I was doing it for a good cause. I was gonna save that Grovyle if it was the last thing I did…. Gulp….

I soon got to the area where we had rescued Caterpie. However, I heard grunts of a struggle. I knew that Zev was here, but it sounded like he was in trouble. I didn't bother going into cover or hiding; I just quickly ran over to see what was happening.

It was then I saw the humungous web on the wall of the right side. Dang, IT WAS HUGE! I can't believe I was so focused on saving Caterpie, I didn't even notice it. I slowly had my eyes lay on the sight that I was afraid of.

Zev was on the ground on his back, with spider webs pinning his arms down and behind his back. He was struggling as Ariados was right on top of him. The enemy laughed… I was caught off guard by this. Not only a few minutes ago, he was roaring like a monster. Maybe it was his anger that caused him the unability to speak when angry. Whatever it was, not my problem right now.

"Ngh.. ugh… get off me…" Zev groaned, trying to get away.

The way Zev said it made me believe he was hurt and tired… Oh no! Don't tell me he was poisoned! I didn't see any injuries… but still, I couldn't see all of his body. Did Ariados get him in some way that now he's poisoned?

"Hahaha… it seems your little friends have abandoned you… isn't that too bad?" Ariados mocked him, "I guess that leaves you to be my dinner instead of Caterpie."

EAT HIM!? You mean, Ariados had held Caterpie prisoner to eat him!? Why, that overgrown…

"I said… agh…. get off me… you… overgrown pathetic… mmmf… excuse for a spider…!" Zev yelled as he was able to push Ariados off the ground a tiny bit with both of his feet.

"Hehehe… I love prey that fights for his life," Ariados taunted him.

He suddenly jumped, causing Zev's legs to fall to the ground. Once they hit, Ariados got on top of Zev, pinning him down before he could move again. The thief struggled, but to no avail or success. He looked back into his predator's smirking eyes as the spider got closer to his neck.

"I'm going to enjoy eating you; get ready to die!" Ariados yelled.

Zev kept struggling as his enemy get closer to his neck. There was no way I could wait anymore to save him. I needed to act now! However, there was a huge problem… literally. There was a huge gap in between me and Zev. I wouldn't be able to make it in time. But I had to try.

"NOW! IT IS TIME FOR ME TO FEAST!" Ariados screamed, as his fangs near his mouth lunged for Zev's throat, who had gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

I don't know how to explain it like I said earlier, but it was then my body reacted again. I felt my whole torso take a bit of a swing back, and then I was flying like a bullet at who knows how many miles per hour. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I was being surrounded by lightning!

I was able to use lightning! I couldn't believe it! I didn't know how I did it though… I think maybe it was that I was concentrating on an attack that my body was able to generate electricity. I was doing Volt Tackle, which I didn't know at the time. I also didn't know that the others had gotten right there to see me do that attack, with my brothers being the most surprised.

I suddenly found myself right in front of Ariados, shocking him from my ability to close the distance. I then rammed my whole body into him. It sent the voltage of electricity I was generating out of my body and thus sent him flying backwards. Zev immediately opened his eyes when he saw the flash through his eyelids, and was stunned that I was next to him.

"Thomas?" he asked, "What are you doing?"

I lowered my head to him and said, "Zev… forgive me; if I had known you had been captured sooner, I would've been here faster. I'm sorry we left you behind."

"So you mean… the whole time you could've left… you chose to come back?" he said, amazed that he was being saved.

"Yeah. I made you a promise, but more than that… I'm not letting someone die on my hands, not while I'm here!" I said, pulling on the webs that bound him, "Now hurry up and do one of those cutting attacks to get out of this!"

With that, Zev and I struggled to the best of our combined ability to get him unbound. But with my new body not blessed with physical strength, and Zev basically having his arms pinned behind his back, it was excruciatingly hard to even make one of the lines cut.

"Thomas! Duck!" I heard Caterpie's voice sound out to me.

Now, call me a weirdo, but when somebody yells 'Duck!', the natural response isn't to duck down; it's to turn around to see whatever it is you need to look out for. Unfortunately, I had fallen victim to this. I turned around just in time to see several Poison Needles shoot right at my face and body. I was able to block my eyes, but at the cost of my arms and stomach receiving sharp pointed needles into them.

Oh my gosh! That hurt like heck! I was forced away from Zev and remembered rolling hard on the ground. I struggled to get up at least into a sitting position. Augh… was this what Pokémon battles were like? I never knew it hurt so much… and to think Zev would feel more pain because of his type…

"THOMAS!" I heard Naruto yell as he suddenly appeared by my side with Sasuke, "Answer me! Are you okay?"

I huffed and nodded in pain as Sasuke gently placed me against him and said, "Thomas, hold still. This will only hurt for a second."

With that, he quickly took a hold of all the needles and pulled them out in a heartbeat. It hurt at first, but at least I wasn't bleeding. I looked down though to see my fur around those areas were ruffled and red from impact, but not from blood. I then saw Caterpie was hidden behind that slab with the berry bag and that Batsu and King had entered too.

"Is Thomas alright?" Batsu asked.

Naruto quickly sniffed me and replied, "Yep, there's no scent of poison. Just a couple hits; Thomas is fine."

I then looked to see that Zev was gone. But upon hearing his grunts, I was able to see that Ariados had dragged him up onto his web and stuck him there. The Grovyle's legs kicked around as he struggled to get free. The Ariados glared at us, especially at me.

"So, you think you're tough, you little brat?" he said, "Fine, I'll kill you all first and save this Grovyle for the main course!"

-


	46. Chapter 46

With **Sasuke**'s help, I was slowly able to stand on my feet, despite almost being turned into a porcupine by that Poison Sting attack. I grunted as I glared back at the enemy. That was deadly. He wasn't just aiming to hurt me, but to destroy me. If I had been a tad late on shielding my face, who knows what kind of damage it would've done. However, I blinked at Ariados gasping at me getting up.

"What? Impossible…" Ariados was able to get out.

"Hm? What are you blabbering about now?" King said with an annoyed look.

Ariados then glared at me and **yelled**, "How!? What on earth are you!?"

All of us blinked in shock as Naruto fired back, "He's a Pikachu! Can't you see that?"

"Don't try to fool me! I've faced many prey! A Pokémon of that Pikachu's size should've fainted after getting hit by that many needles! And considering how much poison I packed onto those things, there is absolutely NO WAY he should even be alive!" he yelled.

My eyes widened as everyone looked at me. You mean to tell me he fired so many needles covered in so much poison… I should be either unconscious… or DEAD!? Was he pulling our legs and trying to make us look like fools? I just looked down at my injuries. They were supposed to kill me?

"If that was the case, then how come Thomas was able to stand up just now and **stay awake**?" Batsu asked curiously, "Did you maybe misfire or miscalculate your attack?"

"You brat! Don't you DARE sell my attacks short and ineffective!" Ariados yelled then turned to me, "You! Pikachu! What kind of defense or technique did you use to stop my attack!?"

I blinked with a sweatdrop down my forehead and repeated, "Uh…. Technique?"

Zev eyed me and muttered, "Unbelievable… so, that whole time, you did nothing?"

I shook my head and said, "All I did was cover my face… I got hit fair and square… but now that everyone mentions it, my body where the needles hit me… I don't **feel pain** anymore…"

It was true. My arms and stomach, where the needles penetrated my skin, was no longer sore. During that whole time, I somehow felt healed, like the attack never happened. I suddenly snapped out of it when I heard a growl lead up to a roar.

"Why you little brat! How dare you mock my strength!" Ariados yelled, "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Everyone, be ready!" Sasuke yelled, as Ariados fired more Poison Sting attacks at us.

I quickly rushed backwards and began running away from the wall to the middle where everyone was leaving. Although he was attacking everyone, he seemed to be focusing on two people the most: me because of apparently unintentionally insulting him by surviving, and King because of his extreme disadvantage to the Charmeleon.

"Hahahaha!" King laughed, "Coming after me first! Why's that; feeling a little bit pressured, are we!?"

"Shut up! Don't get cocky with me!" Ariados yelled as he used Pin Missile, a faster attack.

King did a front flip and a cartwheel to **dodge the** attacks, which gave Naruto a good opening to use an attack he was charging. He quickly released a Shadow Ball and fired directly at Ariados. The spider quickly did get hit, but was able to endure most of the damage when he blocked it. As he removed his quard, he saw Naruto bare his fangs and used Bite on one of his legs. He grunted in pain as he tried to shake him off. Soon, Naruto did a backflip as Batsu appeared behind, forming a Force Palm with his right arm and threw it forward.

Ariados was unable to react as the palm of the Riolu slammed into his face and created pain. As Zev struggled to get out of the web, Sasuke charged up a Water Pulse attack. Batsu timed the attack as Ariados raised one of his legs to strike. Batsu blocked the attack, allowing him to flip back as the Water Pulse from Sasuke flew closer.

However, Ariados didn't seem to feel frightened or threatened. He suddenly just ran up his web so the Water Pulse attack missed. We all gasped as he then fired Poison Sting attacks at us. I dodged by rolling to the right and when I got up, I noticed that everyone else had gotten away safely too. I looked to see that Ariados was grinning and chuckled.

"I almost forgot. You indeed may have more members and an advantage at elemental types, but you see, when I'm on my web… nobody can truly touch me," Ariados said, "My speed is greater when I'm on it, so be careful on where you throw your attacks… or you may just hit this Gro- AAHH!"

I blinked in shock and relief as a huge flame connected onto his right side. I looked over to see King grin confidently as his mouth smoked and he glared at the spider.

"Yeah, keep talking," he said, "I'll fry you up in a heartbeat!"

"Why… you little BRAT!" Ariados roared as he glared at King.

He then out of nowhere launched Pin Missile at the Charmeleon. King saw that he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, so he quickly covered his face and was hit with the attack. He grunted in pain as he withstood the pain. As he looked up, he found that a large amount of String Shot had been fired at him. It wrapped around his mouth, preventing fire attacks, and wrapped around his arms, pinning them to his body. With that, King fell on the ground and was trapped in web.

The Charmeleon growled as he struggled and tried to free himself. Ariados laughed at his helplessness as he looked at him.

"You can't fry me if you can't move or open your obnoxious trap!" he said, turning to us, "Now, you will all be just like these two."

He quickly took web and closed off Zev's mouth too, making him unable to attack or speak at all. He struggled more as he kicked his legs harder. Batsu suddenly came out of nowhere in front of him and got Metal Claw activated. He attacked him with a solid swing as we smiled confidently.

"Yes! Batsu's got him!" Naruto yelled happily.

Suddenly, Batsu stopped moving in the air. He gasped in shock as gravity wasn't claiming him back down to the ground. He soon tried to move, but was stuck in place. He was surrounded by a weird purple glow that made us become worried.

"That Ariados… knows Psychic!?" Sasuke said in disbelief.

The enemy laughed as he threw Batsu back onto a wall. The Riolu smashed into the wall hard and yelled in pain. Suddenly, String Shot was fired and pinned his body to the wall. He gritted his teeth and began trying to break free. Great. Now, half the team was unable to move. I watched Naruto growl and advance closer.

"Why, you!" he snarled as he ran towards the spider.

"Thomas, stay here," Sasuke told me as he ran after Naruto to back him up.

Ariados immediately shot Poison Sting attacks rapidly at them. They both did cross side jumps dodging the attacks, yet continuing to move forward. Both of them suddenly vanished, like at the beach battle with Skylar, and they suddenly appeared with two charged attacks of Shadow Ball and Water Pulse. Ariados gasped as he tried to react in time, but the attacks smashed into him.

It was then he unleashed a huge Pin Missile attack, causing both to be flown back. Luckily, they weren't hurt as they landed down on the ground safely. They once again charged as Ariados quickly fired a Pin Missile attack at ME! I widened my eyes as I quickly stepped back. Seeing the needles all miss me as I basically backflip, I was able to dodge all successfully. I looked up to see that Naruto and Sasuke had jumped up again to attack. However, Ariados had quickly seen them and launched String Shot at them.

Sasuke was able to flip away, but Naruto got hit and wrapped up in it. He landed hard on the ground near King and as both, Batsu, and Zev still struggled.

I saw my opportunity to go in for an attack and ran underneath that. I jumped into the air and came face to face with our enemy. I was surprised as much as he was that I was able to get to such heights at such speed. However, I didn't show him that. What I did show was my right fist as I swung it into his face. It connected! YES!

However, as I threw that punch, my body sort of turned to the left, causing my back to soon face him. What I didn't know is that he recovered quickly and quickly faced me with an evil look. He then fired a huge barrage of Poison Sting needles at my back. They hit me, causing me to be thrown face-first into the ground and roll a bit away.

Naruto gasped and yelled, "THOMAS!"

I felt that pain again; dang it, there were more needles this time. But I didn't care. I slowly got to my hands and knees and tried to push up to get on my feet. Suddenly, I felt my eyes get dizzy for a split second and my body feel sick.

Oh, dang it. Was this how it felt to be poisoned? It made my stomach nauseous. I hated this feeling. I could see only the ground and two furry orange feet run to me. I felt Sasuke hold me gently as he looked at my injuries. He suddenly gritted his teeth in fear.

"Oh, shoot… he's poisoned…" he muttered as he helped me up to my feet.

I grunted as my brother helped me to my feet. I winced as he pulled the needles out and helped me stay on my feet. We both then heard a laugh coming from Ariados as we looked up.

"Feeling a bit woozy? Oh, that's just a side-effect of being poisoned," he taunted us, "Now, come closer so that I can kill you before the poison can!"

Sasuke slowly bent down to me and whispered, "Thomas, I want you to slowly head back to the bag and grab a Pecha berry. I'll cover you. Hurry."

"No," I said back to him, "You can't handle him by yourself for that long! I won't even make it!"

"We have to try! Plus, Caterpie will be left alone. You need to go back and stay there so you can help him," Sasuke calmly explained to me.

"Hey… Pikachu…" We both heard as we looked up at Ariados, "I wanna ask you a few questions… before you die… Why? Why did you risk your life for this Grovyle?"

Zev's eyes were surprised as he stopped struggling for a bit and looked at me. He watched me closely as I stood up and listened to my enemy. When I took a look around in my blurry-vision eyes, everyone was looking at me interestingly. I blinked as I listened to Ariados.

"I mean, you have heard of what this Grovyle has done, right? He's stolen from many places and commited many thievery crimes. He doesn't deserve to have any mercy. He has no regret for anything he does? Why do you possibly have any excuse for saving him?" he asked.

Everyone looked at me, waiting to see me not give an excuse. I remember Zev looked into my eyes. I mean, don't get me wrong; he wasn't crying or afraid… but something in his eyes… it was like he was wanting to know why I cared so much about them. I then looked at Ariados and smiled.

"What; like you're perfect?" I asked.

"What did you say?" Ariados growled, as Zev blinked in shock.

"You just tried to eat a child," I said smirking, "Doesn't that make you bad? It doesn't matter what any of us have done; we all aren't perfect and do bad things and mistakes. And you made a big bad mistake of stopping us from rescuing Caterpie. Now, we will defeat you! So, GET READY!"

-


	47. Chapter 47

Well, that threat sounded good in my head…

I didn't think at the time I could back it up. Heck, probably no one thought I could. This was bad; I didn't want to look like an idiot, yet I didn't want to break my promise to Zev. I suddenly felt a surge of sickness and dizziness go through my body and cause me to become disoriented. I quickly fell back on one knee as Sasuke was able to catch me before I fell. The Ariados laughed at us as I growled.

"I don't think I'll be taking any of your threats seriously, little mouse," he sneered at me, "Show me your so-called power!"

I growled as suddenly I felt something in my body rise up in me. It was a surge of excitement; like a generator of power. I couldn't explain the power that I had gotten so much energy. I felt sick, but I felt fine at the same time. I suddenly found my body running towards Ariados. I felt the find fly through my fur as every fifth or sixth step the blurriness flashed in my eyes. Ariados was surprised that I was able to advance to him as he fired a Pin Missile attack at me.

"Try to dodge this, wimp!" he yelled.

Sasuke immediately saw this and used Aqua Jet. Shooting past me, he used Water Pulse, sending the attack off course and into an open area. This allowed me to jump and come face to face with Ariados. The spider gasped as I flipped and brought both my feet into a downward kick. It connected, causing the spider to flinch. Seeing the opportunity to continue, I brought both of my arms above my head. I put them together and threw them down onto his head. It caused him to grunt in pain as he was then disoriented. Because I threw that punch, my body had flipped and caused me to do a front flip again. As I went in circles, I felt my right arm suddenly flair with electricity. I held it out to see it was creating a huge electric energy ball. My eyes widened; I knew how to do Electro Ball!

I quickly threw my arm forward, throwing the Electro Ball at him. It smashed into him, causing him to roar in pain. As he sort of leaned on his web, it shook, causing Zev to be freed. Although still in bondage, his body came loose as he rolled off and onto his feet. He landed and struggled on his bonds as I was brought down by gravity. I suddenly realized I landed on the web and struggled to maintain my balance. I grunted as I waved my arms in circles, trying to stay on.

Suddenly, my eyes went suddenly partially blind as I bent down on one knee. Sasuke immediately saw this as everyone gasped.

"Thomas! Get off that!" he said, running towards us.

Ariados growled at me as he raised his head to me and prepared to use Psychic on me. He glared with extreme hatred at me as he leaned forward to attack.

"NOW YOU'RE MINE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" he screamed.

I closed my eyes, preparing for impact. But after a few seconds of nothing, I squinted to look, only for my eyes to go wide in shock. He was trapped in String Shot! But how!? Why would he trap himself? … no… wait a minute! We all looked to see that Caterpie had crawled into the battlefield and attacked him. He was scared, but brave enough to help us. He then turned to me and smiled.

"Thomas! He's yours now! Get him!" he yelled.

I nodded as I felt that this would be the last attack I could do. I slowly cocked my right arm back and formed my hand into a fist. I gritted my teeth and concentrated all my energy into my punch. I felt that energy come back again as electricity shot through my arm. I suddenly noticed I was doing Thunder Punch. I then brought my fist forward as it caught on fire in means of sparks and lightning. The Ariados widened his eyes in realizing he was done for.

"W-What!? NOOOOOOO!" he screamed as I drilled the punch into his face.

The impact sent him flying through the webs, breaking it, and causing him to smash into the wall. Because I was standing on it, I happened to fall through as well. Ariados thus slumped on the ground with spirals in his eyes, showing he was ko'ed after smashing into and falling from the wall. I, on the other hand, was able to land on my feet. I was exhausted as I looked at my unconscious enemy.

"You… ever try this again… and I'll hit you so hard, that web shoots out of your eyes…" I muttered a threat.

Everyone in the room was staring in awe at me. I mean, there was no way the alibi was gonna be so strong now. I mean, for an "unknown" Pikachu to have the memory and ability to attack beaten out of him, only for him to go on a simple rescue mission and remember three of his four attacks in one day? Wow, I bet you Batsu or King is gonna question about that once we start getting back to the Square. However, I suddenly felt a jolt of nausea that hit me SO BAD, I actually felt like I was going to faint. My hearing suddenly dampened and I went deaf. I'm pretty sure I heard Sasuke yell my name and he probably came running, but at the time, nothing. All I remember was my vision going and me falling to my knees. I don't know if I slumped or fell completely, but I knew that the poison had got to me… and had me rendered unconscious.

-

The next thing I remember was moving, but I wasn't walking; I was off the ground. My vision was a bit blurry and I still felt a bit sick, but I was okay. I noticed I was being carried in a piggy-back ride kind of way and my face was snuggling into something soft. I was able to open my eyes a bit and look around to see that Sasuke was carrying me and my head was on his right shoulder.

"S… S-Sas.. uke?" I managed to say.

My brother looked over his shoulder and once seeing I was okay, smiled and nuzzled my face gently.

"Hey, Thomas. Good to see that you're okay," he said softly.

I smiled at his nose nuzzling me. It felt so good, like his love as channeling into my body from it. I smiled as I widened my eyes. Wait a minute; where was everybody else? I struggled to lift my head a bit to see Batsu, who was carrying the bag, and King to the right, but that was it.

"Sasuke… C-Caterpie and Z-Zev… are they…?" I tried to ask.

"We're over here, kid," I heard a certain Grovyle say.

I turned my head to the left to see Zev walking with his eyes closed in a cool manner, and Caterpie enjoying a ride on Naruto's back. He immediately saw me and smiled.

"Yay! You're awake!" Caterpie exclaimed.

I smiled at him. Sure, I felt like someone had driven a blade through me, but if he and Zev were alright, that's what mattered the most. I softly and painfully chuckled as the blurriness started to kick in again. I moaned and that's when Sasuke showed me he had a Pecha berry in his right paw.

"Here…" he held the berry up to my mouth and said, "take small bites, okay? This will make you feel better. And don't worry; there's still some berries left in the bag for your promise with Zev."

With that, I started to dig in to the berry of poison antidote. Slowly by slowly, my strength returned and I could see again. As I was eating the berry, I noticed that we were approaching the fissure where we had come from. I blinked; you mean from when I passed out from battling all the way up to here, we got to where we came from without any battles? Maybe the Pokémon saw that we defeated Ariados and decided to leave us alone.

"Where's Ariados…?" I asked, as my felt my vision completely be restored.

"He passed out from that Thunder Punch you gave him," Naruto cheerfully said, "Zev was able to get free and cut the rest of us loose. We high-tailed it out of there in a heartbeat; he's still probably on the ground where we left him."

I nodded as we approached the fissure. At first, I wondered how the heck we were gonna get up there, but that was cut short when Sasuke jumped and started to wall-jump out of there. I held on tightly as the others soon followed. As we finally reached daylight and the beautiful Tiny Woods again, we noticed Butterfree was waiting for us. She gasped in joy and relief as she saw her baby was unharmed.

"Caterpie!" she exclaimed with joy as she flew over.

"Mommy!" Caterpie said as Naruto lowered him down.

Butterfree scooped him up into her arms and started kissing and hugging him. Caterpie giggled as his mom was so relieved to find that we helped him. She kissed his head and slowly brought them back down to the ground in front of us. I finally was able to get my energy back and stand with the five that I helped in this mission.

"My baby's safe!" Butterfree said happily, "I'm sorry, I don't know how I can ever thank you properly…"

"It's all right, ma'am!" Naruto said happily, "We were happy to help!"

"It has been getting rather dangerous lately with natural disasters like that; luckily, it's not that bad," Batsu said, folding his arms after putting the bag down.

"Please, may I have your names?" the mother asked.

"I'm Sasuke," my older brother said, "That's Naruto the Poochyena, Thomas the Pikachu, and I'm pretty sure you know Batsu, King, and Zev."

Butterfree was surprised to hear Zev's name as she smiled and said, "Really… Wow, that's wonderful. Thank you, all of you. Especially you, Zev."

Zev sort of blushed at this as he folded his arms, and closed his eyes while turning his head away. I giggled at him; I bet he wasn't used to getting compliments at all. Suddenly, all of us noticed that Caterpie was sort of staring at us. His eyes were sparkling and were staring in admonishment.

"… Cool…." He said in a dream like trance.

I kid you not; the six of us at the same time all blushed embarrassingly and had a sweatdrop go down. It was kind of a bit weird for him to stare at us like that.

"He's, uh… staring at us adoringly…" King said, trying to not sound weak, "Those sparkly eyes… it's a little embarrassing…"

Well, it didn't feel bad to me; I felt like a hero! Helping Pokémon in trouble might just be the greatest experience for me in my whole entire life. It was then Caterpie jumped in joy and giggled.

"Thank you! All of you!" he said joyfully, making all of us blush more.

"I know this isn't really enough, but this is a token of our thanks. Please accept it," Butterfree caught our attention.

She handed us three berries; Oran, Pecha, and Rawst. Sasuke put them in the bag. She smiled as she snuggled Caterpie after hugging him and holding him as she fly off the ground.

"Thank you so much. Until we meet again," she said as she flew away with her son reunited.

I felt great as they flew out of view. That was amazing. To be able to fight like this and protect people; yeah… I could get used to a life like this! My brothers and I as an unstoppable team! I could see it happening. It was then we all heard Zev clear his throat and start to walk away.

"Well, my time with you guys is done… I'm outta here," he said as he started to make his way from us.

Suddenly, I remember something and gently took the bag off the ground. I then ran a bit closer to Zev and called out.

"Hey, Zev, heads up!" I yelled as I threw the bag towards him.

The thief turned around and gasped at the incoming bag. He was able to catch it perfectly without anything falling out. He stared in a confusing manner back at me as I walked closer to him. I grinned as I began untying my headband.

"A promise is a promise, Zev," I said as I slowly began to hand him my headband as promised, "You helped us get Caterpie out of there; you get to have the bag, berries, and my headband."

"Keep it."

The five of us blinked in surprise at what Zev said. He held the bag as I looked back at the headband. I didn't understand what I just heard; maybe I was hallucinating and didn't hear him correctly.

"A-Are you sure?" I double-checked, "I promised you can have my headband. I mean, that's what you wanted at first, right?"

It was then I figured it out; Zev was blushing and looked away. Ah, I bet he wasn't expecting me to go through with my promise. He looked away quickly and scoffed.

"I… really didn't want the headband in the first place anyways," he said, "My original plan was to steal the headband and then trade for the bag."

It was then Zev actually smiled at me as he turned and said, "You know something, Pikachu? You're pretty cool. Consider yourself on my 'Not to steal from' list. Laters."

With that, Zev jumped into a tree and then tree-jumped out of our view in a heartbeat. We were all left stunned as I shrugged and tied my headband back onto my head. King had an hilarious face of disbelief as he put his hands on his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Since when does Zev have a 'Not to steal from' list?" he said suspiciously, "Before this mission, that thief would pickpocket anybody he could get his grimy claws on."

Batsu simply exhaled in a calm and uninterested manner as he closed his eyes and didn't really care. Naruto slowly walked over and rubbed his head into my left hip. He winked at me with a smile and giggled.

"Maybe he was touched by a certain act of kindness," he said to me.

I rolled my eyes with a blushing smirk; how dare my brother make me enjoy and bask in the moment of making a thief actually not steal when he's not supposed to. He giggled and I looked away as Sasuke smiled and walked in front of us, signaling it was time to get back.

"Well, whatever the case, mission success, guys," he said, "Let's get back to Pokémon Square and report the case to Whiscash Elder."

-


	48. Chapter 48

It was little then several minutes until we exited Tiny Woods and were walking past the West Rescue bases. I felt great! My first mission was a success. I couldn't believe it. Best of all… we had a THEIF help us! How rare is that! We had made it to the bridge as Batsu stopped walking.

"Everybody, stop," he said, "There's something I want to address."

"What is it, Batsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I want to talk about Thomas for a second," he said turning to me, "It's pretty strange how he forgot how to fight after this incident, and today he's saving the day with amazing abilities that would require months of training."

"Yeah, that reads suspicious all over him. How can the pipsqueak do all that crazy battling, yet not dodge a rock I throw at his head?" King agreed.

(HA! See? I told you! In the last chapter, I betted you that Batsu or King would question me about that! I just knew that would come up when we were coming back! I just knew it!)

"Batsu, come on. You and King have been on Thomas' back ever since he's stepped foot here," Naruto said, causing King to slightly growl, "Can't you lay off him for one day?"

"No offense to you, Naruto," Batsu replied as he stepped closer to me, "But I was talking to Thomas, not you."

I blinked in shock as I backed up a bit. Batsu just stepped right closer to me. My brothers and I got really fearful; did he figure it out that I wasn't really a Pokémon? We hoped not. I acted calm though as I lowered my eyebrows as I gave a concerned look.

"What, do you think Sasuke, Naruto, and I would lie about me almost getting killed?" I asked him.

"No, and I take back that statement. That's not what is bothering me," he said, "What's bothering me is that you and King disobeyed orders from Sasuke, who was the leader in this mission."

King glared in annoyance and said, "Tch, I can't believe you're still sore about things like that. So, the pipsqueak and I disobeyed an order. So what?"

"It's a direct disobedience to the rules, King," Batsu said as he glared at him, "If you disobey the rules, you will be banned from being on a Rescue Team. You should be careful of this, considering that you are trying so hard to be a part of a Rescue Team."

I looked at King, as he growled and looked down at the ground. Was he that desperate to become a Rescue Team member? If it was true, that'd explain why he followed us and why he seemed to be angry that Whiscash Elder didn't include him in the team in the first place. And if it was true about him being the younger brother of one of the members of Team A.C.T, one of the best teams in the Pokémon world, then a lot of pressure must've been weighing down on his shoulders.

"Geez, get off my back, Batsu," King said as he looked up, "It was just one broken order. We're not even a team yet, so I can't really get into trouble."

"Besides," I joined in, "you saw what Ariados was going to do to Zev! If I had obeyed my brother then, he would've been killed and eaten!"

"That may have been true," Batsu said as he looked at me with a serious look, "but rules are what keeps this structure of the Rescue Teams going. They are laid down to be followed and obeyed, not to be optional. The next time you try to break the rules, I will stop you to prevent the base of everything the founders of the Rescue Teams be destroyed."

I finally had it with this Riolu. I was sorry that I disobeyed the rules, but if someone was going to die if I didn't break them, then I would be a delinquent. I looked him back in the eyes and didn't falter.

I said, "I don't care what rules you try to force upon me or who you think you are! If somebody is in trouble and needs my help, I'd be willing to be labeled a villain in order to save them, because they matter to me the most! So, go ahead and try to stop me! You will only fail!"

The air of tension between me and Batsu was so thick and palpable, that my brothers and King thought the two of us would start a fight. Both our different views were clashing together with our eyes looking back at each other. Thankfully, we suddenly saw Butterfree and Caterpie run to us, looking worried.

"Oh, thank goodness we found you!" Butterfree gasped, exhausted.

"Huh? What's wrong, miss?" Sasuke asked.

"It's Zev. He's being falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit!" she said.

We all gasped as King rolled his eyes, "He probably did something a while back. He's probably finally getting in trouble for it."

"No! You don't get it!" Caterpie yelled, making King gasp too, "They blaming him for a crime that happened around the time that he helped you guys save me and they want to get rid of him!"

"W-What?!" King said, as he looked back at us completely shocked.

"Th-that is completely false! There's no way he could've done anything!" Naruto said in concern.

"Come on! We gotta get over there!" Sasuke said as we all followed Caterpie and his mom.

"The whole Pokémon Square is at Whiscash Pond! Hurry!" Caterpie called to us as he kept running.

I felt the adrenaline rush through my body as we all made our way into the Square and went north. This had to be the work of somebody who hated Zev. It couldn't go down like this. Just because he has the reputation that was shaky and horrible, doesn't mean they have the right to accuse him like that. I gasped as I saw that tons of Pokémon had gathered there in a crowd. Luckily, there was an open section to the left as we all moved there and looked to see what there was.

There was Team Pitchblack, who I had mentioned earlier, with Houndoom holding a rope in his mouth. It led to Zev, tied badly around his arms and his mouth, preventing him to move or speak. They were standing next to Whiscash Elder and Lucario.

"I see that they bound Zev's mouth well, so he can't speak in his defense," Batsu said, observing the ropes and how they were tied.

"Not only that, it's Team Pitchblack," Sasuke said, "They're not on good terms, like I said earlier."

We looked at Zev, who was on his knees with his eyes closed. He struggled every now and then, but seemed to be very tired from the mission he helped us on. He grunted and tried to speak, but the ropes made him muffle his voice. It was then that Cofagrigus cleared his throat and began to speak.

"My fellow townspeople," he said loudly for them, "Zev the thief once again has been caught for one of his crimes!"

The crowd applauded with uttermost satisfaction and smiles on their faces, except Caterpie, his mom, Batsu, King, me, and my brothers. We were confused on what they were accusing Zev with. We watched as Cofagrigus continued.

"Recently, we chased Zev in a pretty bad chase that led through many places after he stole a bag from somebody," he said, "Finally, we were able to locate him near Sunshine Beach and bring him into custody."

What!? They were lying!? Zev was nowhere near a beach; he was with us the entire time! We blinked in disbelief as we kept hearing him lie to everyone. After he went on about how Zev was so evil and such, he stopped and turned to Whiscash Elder, awaiting his verdict.

"Hmm, this is the thirty-seventh time he's been caught stealing. Normally, I would just send someone to jail for this, but to do this multiple times like Zev has…" the Elder said, "I'd think the best way to deal with him is to ban him from Pokémon Square."

Zev's eyes widened as he heard that. He clenched his hands into fists and exhaled sadly. I think that the way that Whiscash Elder had said it reminded him too much of his father and made him sad. The feeling of sympathy for him became stronger, dwelling in me. I wanted to help him in some way; little did I know, that in a matter of seconds, I would.

Suddenly, Zev grunted in pain as Cofagrigus lifted him up into the air with Psychic. He groaned in pain and tried to remain as stationary and still as he could, because it would be painful. Mandibuzz glared him and Houndoom growled, bearing his fangs.

"Shut up, miserable deliquient!" Cofagrigus commanded, "You have committed too many crimes to beg and plea from the wounds you deserve! Face it; no one would stand up for you now!"

"Actually, I would," I said, as I stepped forward.

Everyone gasped to hear somebody's voice defy that last statement and looked to see me walk forward out of the crowd and face them. Some of the crowd immediately recognized me and began talking amongst themselves about how it was me again defying people. I didn't care at the time, even with my brothers worried sick about me; I needed to try and tell the truth.

"Thomas," Whiscash Elder said, sounding surprised, "I see you made it back and completed your mission?"

I nodded and pointed to Caterpie, who smiled and waved with his mom. The Elder nodded and took note of our success in the mission. Lucario briefly smiled and nodded to Batsu, who got really happy for a bit and smiled proudly. Just to take a quick note of this, I realized that probably he was trying to be like his father, and it made him happy when he was able to make his dad proud.

"Whiscash Elder, who does this kid think he is?" Houndoom asked, "He doesn't have the right to interrupt my leader like that."

"True, but Thomas has proven to me that he has trustworthy to keep a promise and only speaks when something is important," he smiled replying and turning to me, "Thomas, let us hear what you have to say."

"Oh… thanks," I chuckled, blushing a bit and rubbing my head.

Little did I know that my brothers were once again smiling with pride and love. I still wondered why I was so outgoing as a Pokémon. Again, I think it's a Pokémon thing I don't know about and that's the answer, maybe. I saw that Batsu was once again staring at me with an emotionless look, but King with an interested look. Zev opened his eyes to see me and stared at me with helpless and stunned eyes, as if he wasn't believing that I was actually helping him.

"Hey, you rat. What the heck do you think you're doing?" Mandibuzz said hatefully, "You ain't some hero. Shut up and get out of here."

"You better watch your tongue around the presence of the Elder, Mandibuzz," she was taken back by Lucario saying that to her and then turning to me, "Thomas, go ahead."

"Thanks, sir. I don't mean to act like the law and I'm not anyone special," I said, "But if you can give me a few minutes, I can prove to you that Cofagrigus and his team are lying and that Zev didn't do this so-called crime."

-


	49. Chapter 49

Everybody gasped at what I just said. However, I do understand why they gasped. I mean, I was accusing a Rescue Team of lying. I felt everybody's eyes on me as I walked to a space where everybody could see me.

"What!? Are you accusing my leader of lying!?" Houndoom snarled at me.

"Actually, no," I said, "But I find it quite odd by a couple of things. I mean, where's your proof?"

Team Pitchblack sort of blinked in shock at this question. They looked amongst themselves as Cofagrigus chuckled and shook his head.

"What the heck are you talking about, kid?" Mandibuzz asked, as her leader put Zev back down on the **ground** with **Psychic**.

I replied, "Well… I mean, where's the proof that Zev stole something? I mean, I'm sure you guys are a very respected Rescue Team, but from what I know, you need to present **physical evidence** if someone does something illegal. You can't just blame someone because they're a bad person like a thief."

I immediately heard some chuckling and scoffing from the crowd upon hearing that. I secretly took a deep breath. That may be true from what I said, but I doubt the residents of my new home would like to make an exception. Luckily, their sarcasm and disagreement matched with my confidence as Lucario agreed with me.

"No, Thomas is right; you cannot judge a person guilty or innocent, based on their reputation. That can allow revenge and grudges to go too far," he said as he looked at Team Pitchblack, "We need to see some evidence of this crime, or Zev is gonna go free."

Cofagrigus smiled at him and said, "Luckily for all, we brought the item in which he stole. Houndoom, if you please."

It was then Houndoom walked behind them and came back with a **bag** in his mouth. But not just any bag; it was Sasuke's bag. As the crowd talked amongst themselves, I looked back at Sasuke. He nodded, saying he'd come assist me in a bit. I turned back to watch Houndoom place the bag near his leader and sat near Mandibuzz as both smiled.

"This is the bag that we caught Zev stealing," Cofagrigus said to Lucario, and then turned to me, "Satisfied, Pikachu?"

I blinked as I folded my arms, yet pointed to the bag and asked, "Okay, whose bag is that?"

Cofagrigus blinked as he responded, "It belonged to a Sandshrew who was relaxing on the beach. This bag is filled with berries the young Pokémon had."

"Okay… so, if I were to go down to Sunshine Beach right now and check, would I find this Sandshrew?" I asked.

Mandibuzz said with a slight hint of **nervousness**, "Probably not; he was walking to his home. When his bag was stolen, we promised we would recover his bag from Zev."

"Then… why didn't you return the bag? It doesn't make sense. You promised to return it to him, but he left? Shouldn't you have asked him to wait in the Square before he walked away?" I asked confused.

The crowd talked to each other, showing that they agreed in a way. It didn't make sense. Team Pitchblack looked at each other with a bit of surprise. I bet they weren't expecting a defense for Zev at all. I smirked as I chuckled under my breath.

"However… the truth is… I know you're lying. That bag doesn't belong to any Sandshrew," I said.

"It belongs to me," Sasuke said as he walked past me and approached his bag.

The crowd gasped in shock as they said things like "What? But that's impossible!" or "It can't be…" I listened to all the disbelief as Whiscash Elder blinked in shock and Lucario watched with a glare. Sasuke walked over and grabbed the bag.

"This is my bag; the same bag I ALLOWED THOMAS TO GIVE TO ZEV," he said, telling the audience.

I walked up and slowly approached Zev. I reached for the ropes on Zev's mouth to let them go, so I could use him to reference. However, I was approached rapidly by Houndoom who growled at me and Mandibuzz who glared at me. I suddenly found Naruto and Sasuke stand in the way and shield me. I kinda shook in shock, but my brothers stopped the advanced by the members of Team Pitchblack.

"Do not touch our brother," Naruto said, making it clear.

I looked past my brothers and said, "I'm not untying him; I'm removing the ropes on his mouth, so he can speak."

As the two backed off and my brothers relaxed, I began to get the ropes off of Zev's mouth. Man, they were SUPER tight on his mouth. He grunted a bit as I pulled it off. He wiggled his nose and sighed as he sniffed in his nose, trying to make it feel right.

"Geez, could you guys tighten these ropes anymore? I can still feel my blood flow," he said sarcastically to Team Pitchblack, causing them to glare at him and Whiscash Elder to take notice.

"I got an idea," Sasuke said as he turned to the Elder, "I'll give you a brief version of my report of the rescue mission and ALSO tell you why Zev is innocent. I'll tell all the details of the mission later."

The Elder nodded with a smile and said, "Very well, go ahead."

With a slight groan of disgust from Team Pitchblack, Sasuke bowed and then began to explain the whole series of events to clear Zev's name.

"Right after we were assigned to your mission, I decided to stop of G.K and P.K's store to buy some berries because of the Pokémon possibly poisoning us and hurting us," Sasuke said, then turning to the Kecleon Brothers, "Now, with Whiscash Elder here and you telling the truth, what did I bring there to put the berries in?"

"You used that bag," G.K said as P.K nodded.

Sasuke nodded with a smile and continued, "Okay, after that, Zev had encountered us and was chased off by Team Pitchblack. After they all had left the view of sight, we headed into Tiny Woods. Now, when we had found the fissure of where Caterpie had fallen in, I had shown my team this bag with the berries in it. Am I correct?"

Naruto and I immediately nodded as we smiled. Batsu folded his arms and nodded at this as well. We all turned to King, who had an annoyed look on his face. He was a bit hesitant to agree; my guess was he really didn't want to help Zev, which could be he was still sore about that bullying comment that Zev said to him and thus the two were rivals. However, with a punch from Batsu on his left shoulder, the Charmeleon rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Wait, why is King agreeing with you?" Lucario asked, "He wasn't in the group Whiscash Elder assigned."

Sasuke replied with a smile, "Well, we had gotten to the fissure and Batsu had sensed somebody was following us. When I attacked the bush that King was hiding in, he jumped out and revealed that he followed us, wanting to help. So, I decided he could aid us and he joined the mission."

Whiscash Elder chuckled as he looked at King. The fire bully blushed and smirked as he looked away in the corner of his eyes. I guess that he was really excited that the Elder took notice of him. So, that's why he tagged with us: so he could get acknowledged and have a shot at possibly being in a rescue team.

Sasuke nodded and continued, "So, the five of us went down and began to search for Caterpie. We made our way closer to him when we saw who, guys?"

"Zev," all of us who were on the mission said.

Team Pitchblack blinked in nervousness and looked at each other. Seeing their faces, the crowd began to talk amongst themselves about the current issue at hand. I smiled as we were presenting a good case for Zev. I looked at him; he had his head lowered. Maybe it was shameful for him to be protected by others?

"Right," the Buizel said, "We encountered him along the tunnel. He wanted the bag from us, but then was able to hear us out about our mission. It was then that Thomas was able to strike a deal with him."

"Whoa-whoa!" Cofagrigus interrupted, turning to me, "You mean that Pikachu bargained with a thief? Is he out of his mind? That's detestable and unforgiveable!"

"Where the heck do you have the right to get off on him? You're lying about Zev doing a crime he didn't commit. You have no right to talk to my brother like that," Naruto said.

"Hold on," Sasuke said, grabbing their attention and said, "Zev?"

The Grovyle raised his head and looked at Sasuke as he asked, "Will you tell all of us what the promise was?"

Zev looked down and said with an embarrassed voice, "He said I could have his headband and the bag if I cooperated."

"HAH!" Cofagrigus said, cutting Sasuke off as he was about to speak and with his teammates smirking, "Then this story is NOT true! The Pikachu's headband is still on his head. You just proved yourselves liars!"

"Cofagrigus!" Team Pitchblack heard and became silent as Whiscash Elder spoke, "Please be quiet. You're arguing with a teenager. He didn't interrupt you at all when you spoke. So, please let Sasuke finish."

"Thank you, sir," Sasuke continued as the three mumbled in disappointment, "I'll explain that in a second, Cofagrigus. Anyways, after we had gotten Zev to join us, we had found that Caterpie was being held hostage by an angry and vicious Ariados. Caterpie?"

Sasuke turned to the child and asked, "When we came to rescue you, who was in the team?"

Caterpie smiled and answered, "It was you, Naruto, Thomas, Batsu, King, and Zev."

Half of the crowd started to believe us as my brother went on, "So, to make a long story short in which I will tell you the detail laters, Elder, we had gotten Caterpie safely out of there and out of the fissure. Now…"

He then turned to his mom and asked, "Mrs. Butterfree, when we got out of there, was Zev with us?"

"Yes, he was," she said smiling, "I even thanked him personally."

Sasuke nodded and said, "After they had left and gone back home, Zev started to head out. Thomas gave him the bag, but when he handed the headband, he said he really didn't want it. So, he took the bag and left. Which leads the question…"

Sasuke returned his vision to Zev and asked, "Zev, what happened after you left?"

The thief basically gave him a look of 'Finally! I can explain!' and smiled. I guess he was really happy that he was finally able to explain about what happened. He glared at the team that had him captured and tied up and then looked back at us.

"Well, because I had gotten injured in our fight with Ariados, I was really tired and unable to fight really. As I was traveling back to the Square, I got ambushed by Team Pitchblack and tied up. They rubbed in my face that they were gonna get me in trouble. Now that I mention being tied up, these ropes are really tight; it's starting to hurt a bit," Zev said, struggling a bit.

Sasuke turned to the Elder and said, "I think we presented Zev's defense pretty well, sir."

"Why, you!" Cofagrigus started to say.

It was then that the crowd began to talk loudly, but argue with each other. Half of them didn't want to believe a word we had said and wanted Zev to be banned for good. However, the other half of the crowd saw that Zev was innocent and didn't want to ban him if he didn't do anything wrong. The crowd suddenly became so loud, that Whiscash Elder had shot out a Thunderbolt that was LOUD. It was so loud, that it caused everyone there to jump and my soul to almost go out of me. We all turned to see him with his eyes closed and with a calm look.

"So, let me get this straight…" he said, "On one hand, I have one of my top respected and strong Platinum ranked teams telling me that a Pokémon, who's known for stealing, has stolen a bag from somebody like he's done many times before… yet on the other hand, I have a team of Rescue Team Exam candidates who are claiming that bag belongs to them, has Zev agreeing with them, and have four witnesses, including the one they rescued…"

I could feel my heart beat as we all listened to what he would say next. I hoped and prayed that he would be able to understand and reason. I mean, I know Zev did some horrible stuff, but it wouldn't be fair to be accused like this. After what was like an eternity but only a few seconds, we heard him speak.

"Team Pitchblack," he said, "After Sasuke gives his report, I would like to speak to you three about lying to me over a serious matter."

Yes! It worked! I felt so happy for Zev then. He was smiling and happy as Lucario walked over to him and used the spikes on his paws to cut his ropes. He stood up and rubbed where the ropes were hurting him.

"What?!" Cofagrigus said as the whole team was in shock, "You're honestly going to take their side over ours?"

"Cofagrigus, I respect you and your team; I know that on missions you won't let me down," the Elder replied, "but Thomas and Sasuke have showed me four witnesses, including two of our store owners. Even the client and child they came to rescue. So, later, I want you to come to me and talk about your rivalry with Zev."

He turned to the Grovyle and said, "Zev, I apologize. You are not banned. You are free to go."

Zev nodded and looked at me with a smile before saying, "Thomas… I… I gotta split. Here, take your bag back. That way, no one is gonna claim I did anything today. See you later."

-


	50. Chapter 50

With that, Zev took a leaping bound and jumped onto a tree limb, thus leaping out of view. The crowd murmured among each other as most of them left to go back into town, including Caterpie and his mother. After they had said their thanks and good-byes, I turned back to the pond. I watched Team Pitchblack wait patiently in another tent to get their lecture from the Elder finished. It was during this that the remaining five of us from the mission stood in front of the Elder as Sasuke gave the official version of the report. I won't go into basics, so we'll **skip** to the important part.

"So, an Ariados attacked you pretty badly?" Whiscash Elder asked.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded and answered, "He was very vicious and bloodthirsty. In fact, he tried to eat Caterpie and Zev when we were there."

"It's unknown if he was that way to begin with or it was from the fissure that opened up," Naruto said.

"I see," Whiscash Elder said nodding, "It might be a good idea to put some town check watches around there, just in case."

Lucario stepped forward and said, "I can make sure some protection is brought up, sir."

"Thank you, Lucario," the Elder said, as he turned to us and said, "And thank you, the five of you. We couldn't have done this without you and Zev helping. If any of you see Zev in the **future**, please tell him that I thank him. So, is there anything else I need to know?"

We all started to shake our heads when a certain Riolu nodded and stepped forward. We blinked in surprise as he bowed and then raised his head to the Elder.

"Actually, if I may, there is something I would like to **address**," Batsu said.

"You have my permission, Batsu. Please tell me what it is you want me to know," Whiscash Elder said.

"Although during the mission I was not the leader, I noticed all the orders that Sasuke commanded on the battlefield. During the mission, there were two incidents where King and Thomas disobeyed his orders," the Riolu said.

That little snitch! He's upset so badly about me and King disobeying orders, he's tattling on us to the Elder? What the heck!? Was breaking the rules that BIG of a horrible thing? I didn't know. All I know is King's eyes widened in an anime **style** as Sasuke and Naruto gasped and looked at each other. I blinked in shock and kept quiet as King whirled his head over, looking at Batsu with eyes so white and huge, they could've been mistaken for **dinner plates**.

"W-What the!? Batsu!" he roared, "What the heck are you doing!?"

"Rules are rules, King," Batsu replied looking at him without any fear or hesitation, "If anyone breaks them, the Elder should know about them."

It was then Lucario took a good look at me and kept his eyes there. I felt a bit uncomfortable; the strongest Pokémon just heard I broke a rule and now was staring at me. You can imagine the anxiety I felt a bit about that. I was afraid he would be ordered to attack me for it or something.

"Is that so?" Whiscash Elder said, "What did they do?"

"Well, first was King; when we had found Caterpie, Sasuke had ordered us to stay back to see if he could try to get Caterpie without starting a fight in the first place. As he was getting close, King became impatient and charged out to Sasuke's side, causing Ariados to become aggressive and the whole fight to start in the first place. He had put Caterpie at risk with his actions," Batsu explained.

As the adults turned to see the Pokémon mentioned, the Fire-type smiled nervously and rubbed his neck, saying, "Yeah, guilty as charged. I can't deny it; you know me. Patience is not one of my strong points…"

It was then that Whiscash Elder chuckled and said, "Just like your older brother from Team A.C.T when he was a teenager; rash, impulsive, and stubborn."

He sighed with a smile and said, "King, if you want to truly be in a Rescue Team, you will need to follow your leader's orders from now on. This will be your warning, okay?"

King smiled with a smirk and said, "Thank you, Elder."

Lucario, who was by the way still staring at me, asked, "Batsu, how did Thomas disobey?"

Batsu nodded and answered, "When we had rescued Caterpie and gotten out of battle, we had noticed that Zev had indeed been captured by Ariados. Although Naruto and Caterpie didn't want to, Sasuke made a decision to get Caterpie out first and then put a poster for Zev's rescue. But Thomas refused to leave until he rescued Zev and dashed back to rescue him, causing us to have to fight again and put Caterpie at risk."

I gritted my teeth behind my closed lips as my eyes shot up towards the sky in a bitter frustration. I felt Sasuke's paw touch my left shoulder, rubbing love and comfort into me. I calmed down as both of my brothers smiled and Naruto wagged his tail. I looked to see Lucario still looking at me and Whiscash Elder turn to me.

"Judging by what you have shown me and done, Thomas, I assume you have a good reason for doing this," he smiled and said.

I nodded and said, "When I went back to see what had happened, Ariados was about to bite into Zev's neck and eat him. If I had obeyed Sasuke, Zev would've died!"

"Hmmm…" Whiscash Elder said, "I mean, you and King both disobeyed, but the reason that yours is more important and urgent is that it involves somebody's life, not just the child."

"I know, and I'm really sorry if I broke a rule, but I couldn't live with myself if Zev could've used help and we let him die just cause we followed the rules," I pleaded.

"I understand, Thomas, but still it's a very serious issue; I do hope you understand," I nodded as he said to me.

"Sir, I believe we should not let him join the team," Lucario said to Whiscash Elder.

All of us, excluding Batsu, gasped at this. I was being banned… when I technically haven't started in a Rescue Team yet? Just because I disobeyed a rule? But King did too; how come he gets a free pass? I blinked in shock as Sasuke shook his head and looked at them.

"W-What? But why? He's not even on an official team yet!" he pleaded.

"I know, and I am truly sorry, Sasuke," the Elder said, "but it was a clear disobedience to the rules, even if it was for a good cause."

"But why isn't King getting in trouble either?" Naruto whined, "It's not fair just because he's the younger brother of a Diamond-rank team!"

"Look, I may not be getting in trouble," King nodded and agreed, "but don't ya think you're being too hard on the pipsqueak? I mean, this was his first mission. Also, this is his first time being in the Square and he just survived a Monster House."

"That may be so, King," the Elder said, "but if Thomas were to get away with this, people would start bending and breaking the rules. This we cannot allow."

Batsu folded his arms. He had his eyes closed and although he wasn't smiling, he looked satisfied. My brothers and even King felt badly. They realized what the situation was back there, and truly felt the way I felt about Zev, even if King was a bit sore against him.

"So, I'm getting in trouble for breaking the rules to save somebody's life?" I asked, being upset.

"You heard from the Elder himself, Pikachu," Lucario said, "If you break the rules, you must face the consequences. Therefore, you will not be able to join a Rescue Team from here on. Do I make myself clear?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, Lucario. Get off the kid's back for once," we all heard someone say.

We turned to the right to see another Lucario, leaning against a tree with his arms folded. He was the same shade of colors as Lucario, but he seemed younger. With his eyes closed and a slight smile, he had a smart and warm demeanor around him. He wore a white cape of some sort, like a medieval one and white gloves that showed the fingers of his paws. It also seemed that he had a sword of some sort on his right side.

"Zeke," Whiscash Elder said surprised, "It's very good to see you again, my friend. What is your concern?"

"It's good to see you too, sir," Zeke bowed and turned to Lucario after walking over, "It's just I think Lucario and his son really need to chill a little bit. They've been breathing on Thomas' neck ever since he got here."

"I'm not being harsh on him," Lucario replied, "Thomas has broken a rule and is being punished for it."

"And?" Zeke said, "King broke a rule too, yet you're letting him walk with a warning just because he's related to a member of one of the top Rescue Teams? That's not fair in any way. It's like you said; you cannot judge someone based on their reputation. So, either you need to ban both Thomas and King, or give both of them a warning."

I didn't know who this Zeke guy was, but if he was willing to stand up for me, then I'll let him speak for me. Naruto and Sasuke smiled and snuggled into me as I giggled, feeling their fur on mine. King was a bit nervous of his warning turning into a ban, but he agreed.

"Plus," Zeke continued, "True; if you don't follow the rules, you will be punished. But I think those who don't break the rules to save someone else should be punished threefold, don't you think?"

"What do you mean, Zeke?" the Elder asked.

Zeke shrugged and replied, "Well, isn't the motto of the Rescue Team about no greater gift to lay down a life for a friend? It appears to me that this Thomas broke the rules to risk his life to save another. I'd say he broke a rule in order to follow the motto of our very foundation."

Batsu looked at Zeke and asked with a serious stare, "Are you saying that it was right for Thomas and King to break the rules in which we lay down to maintain law and order?"

"Listen, Batsu," Zeke said, "There are many instances that a team will face an impossible situation that will require to break the rules in order to complete their mission. However, some teams are lucky and never had to break any, like your father's team. Batsu, you're just a beginner, so trust me when I say this; when you're a high-rank team on the battlefield, bending the rules will almost become second-nature to you."

Lucario lowered his eyebrows as he looked at Zeke and said, "That may be true, but if we allow this to happen, the rules will seem less important to others."

"Oh?" Zeke said, "This was Thomas and King's first mission. People are bound to make slip-ups and mistakes on the first mission. If I recall, Sasuke, Naruto, and even your own son did poorly on their first mission. In fact, your son did so bad, that you even begged for the Elder to give him a second chance."

I blinked upon hearing that. Batsu did THAT bad? I looked at him; he had an annoyed glare on his face as he looked at the conversation happening. King, my brothers, and I noticed that the Elder nodded and was starting to think of something.

"So, let me ask you this, Lucario," Zeke asked with a raised eyebrow, and a slight smirk, "Is the real reason you're getting Thomas into trouble because of rule-breaking, or is it because you don't want anybody to argue with your son and for him to look good by reporting this?"

Upon hearing that, Lucario gave one nasty angry look at Zeke, who still had the smirk on his face. We all heard a clear of a throat as we turned to the Elder.

"Please, that's enough, both of you," he said, "I don't need the two of you starting a fight here."

"My apologies," Lucario said, backing down with a relaxed face.

"Me too, I didn't mean to cause trouble," he said, "However, I would like to ask Thomas a question."

He turned to me and asked, "Why did you exactly go back to save Zev?"

With all eyes turning back to me, I took a deep breath and said, "Because I had promised him as a Pokémon that I would give him that bag after the mission. If I had failed or betrayed him, I would be scum. I wanted him to know that even though people hated him, he could trust somebody to be honest and trustworthy with him."

"Ahh, I see," Zeke said, turning to the Elder with a face of 'See my point'.

"Plus," Sasuke said, "we know that a lot of the teams wouldn't save Zev if he was in trouble. Whiscash Elder, Thomas was probably his only hope."

"So, we beg you, sir," Naruto pleaded, "Please don't ban Thomas, and King for that matter too."

Whiscash Elder's whiskers itched his head as he thought for a second. We all wait patiently as I wondered what he was thinking about. He then nodded and took a deep breath.

"All right… Thomas, I've decided to give you a warning, just like King," he said to Sasuke, Naruto, and my delights, "I really am thankful you saved Zev, but next time, be more careful, okay?"

I smiled wide and said, "Thank you. I'm so happy for this second chance."

Lucario and Batsu surprisingly didn't object or show they were upset; they nodded at what the Elder said and agreed. Zeke rubbed his neck and looked around. He then nodded to the Elder.

"Well, I'm gonna head back to my base, sir. I'll see you later," Zeke said.

As he walked towards us, he looked at me and said, "You're pretty interesting, Thomas. I'll keep my eye on you."

With that, he walked out of the pond area and out of view. Lucario then motioned Batsu to come over to him. His son obeyed and walked to his side as he looked to the Elder.

"My son and are gonna go home for the night, sir. You have a wonderful day," Lucario said, with him and his son turning away.

"I'm also gonna head home. Laters," King said, giving us a peace sign and walking away, as Lucario and Batsu did the same.

As they headed out of view, I turned back and asked, "Excuse me, sir? I only want to ask one more question. Who was that Lucario?"

"You met Zeke, the leader of the Platinum-ranked Team Fountainhead. He's a very individualistic person, and if he's watching you, you must be really strong and skilled in his eyes," Whiscash Elder said, "You also have my attention too, so I'll be watching your progress. Now if you excuse me, I must talk with Team Pitchblack. Thomas, welcome to your new home, and I hope you and your brothers have a wonderful day."

-


	51. Chapter 51

Walking back to the Town Square, it was getting pretty late. Now, I know that when I had woken up, it was in the morning, but come on; a huge rescue mission can suck up somebody's time in a heartbeat. So, I was getting pretty tired and hungry. However, I smiled as my brothers and I walked past the tents and out of Whiscash Pond's area. But before we got anywhere **close** to it, Sasuke suddenly grabbed my right arm and yanked me out of view.

"Hang on, Thomas… I have to tell you something," he said.

Suddenly, as he grabbed me from behind, I got very nervous. I mean, what if he was mad? I mean… I had gotten a bit pushy with Whiscash Elder, I had argued with Lucario and his son, I had disobeyed his orders, and so many more **edgy** and controversial things. I gulped as… Sasuke wrapped his arms around me and hugged me, rubbing his face into mine. I blinked in surprise as he smiled.

"We're so proud of you!" he said, nuzzling my face as his tail wagged.

"Y-You… you are?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto said proudly as he stood on his hind legs, coming to my face level and licking my nose.

I blushed in a bit of **embarrassment** and asked, "But why…? I mean, I've basically almost got banned out of your home and almost got you guys in trouble. Aren't you mad at me at all?"

Sasuke slowly rubbed my chest, causing me to smile. I closed my eyes and relaxed, allowing my Buizel brother to rub my chest and make me smile. I rested in his arms as he chuckled.

"No, not at all," Sasuke smiled and said, "We're so proud of what you did! You made us smile with pride when you dared to try to rescue Caterpie and Zev."

"Thomas, you beat your first opponent in the Pokémon world! It was also only your first day in the Pokémon world, and you totally learned how to fight and beat that bad guy out of the way!" Naruto cheerfully said, wagging his tail.

I blushed and giggled, as I grinned and rubbed my head. I got extremely happy as I smirked and let him rub my stomach. I grinned as he nuzzled my neck and giggled. He smiled at me as I felt Naruto's tongue lick me once again on my face. I laughed as he then took his wet nose and nuzzled me where he licked. My brothers gave me a big hug and then stood next to me with grins.

"And to celebrate your helping us on a **job** well done, we're gonna treat you to the Ramen Shack!" Sasuke said with a smile.

"Ramen?" I said, getting excited, "You guys have ramen here?"

Okay, before all of you say 'Oh, look, Thomas is ripping off Naruto, cause he now acts like him and eats ramen', I want to say 'NO!' I am not ripping off Naruto, because I don't eat ramen as my primary source of food. I like a lot of food, but ramen is one of my favorite things to eat.

"Yes, we do!" Naruto said, excited as his tail wagged faster as he grinned, "I'm guessing by that excited attitude of yours, you'll take our offer of eating there!"

"Yes," I said happily, "I'd love to have some food from there."

"Okay, then follow us," Sasuke said, "The Ramen Shack is to the East, actually close by to the Pelipper Post Office. And we got everything taken care of. So, let's have some dinner!"

With that, Sasuke and Naruto led me to the Pokémon Square, taking a left and going to the East. We headed towards the Pelipper Post Office direction as suddenly my ear twitched. I heard another person coming our way that caught my attention. We saw another Pikachu coming down the opposite direction as it had a map in its hand. It wore a pink bow on one of its ears, so I was guessing it was a girl. My suspicions were made correct when I then saw this Tyrogue walk up to her.

"Hey, there," the Tyrogue said, "How can I help you?"

"Yeah," the Pikachu said, "Can you help me find the North Rescue Bases? My team is supposed to be around here…"

"Oh, really?" the boy said, suddenly smirking slyly, "well… tell you what I can do… why don't I take you for a stroll of the town on a date to show you everything?"

It was then that the trio that consisted of my brothers and I noticed that although he wasn't being a disgusting vulgar man who talked about anything mature, the Tyrogue failed to notice the huge and bright red angry mark flash on the female Pikachu's forehead. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the shadows covered her eyes, causing her to look even more menacing. Now, any guy with a brain that approaches a girl who does that should know…. Back off. But nope, Mr. Clever kept going.

"What do you say, beautiful? Care to join me and hang out for a while?" he asked.

Suddenly, a HUGE fist was drilled into his face and sent him flying through the air and out of sight. I hadn't seen somebody fly that bad than that time I saw some kid named Ash or something shoot these thieves with R's on their shirts into the sky with his Pikachu's Volt Tackle back at Kilyla City. Anyways, we watched as the poor yet deserving Tyrogue went flying out of sight. As I slowly looked back, Naruto started to laugh hysterically as he rolled onto his back. He rolled around, laughing so hard it forced a few giggles out of me and Sasuke.

"Hahahah! Did you see Zoey deck that guy? She broke her personal record again! Hehehehahaha!" he struggled to say as he kept laughing.

While he struggled to regain his composure, I turned to Sasuke and asked, "Zoey? Is that the Pikachu's name over there?"

"Yeah, she's part of Team Lightgale," Sasuke answered me with a smile, "Her team will also take the Rescue Team Exams. Her team's a Normal Rank, but will soon they will be upgraded to a Silver rank if they keep up successful missions."

"So… why did she just deck that guy?" I said with a sweatdrop coming down my face.

After regaining his composure and standing up, Naruto giggled a few more times and then said to me, "Zoey's a nice and loving person, but she kinda has this hate thing with boys trying to hit on her and get dates. What you saw there is what she does to those guys."

I blinked as she turned to us and calmed down. She immediately smiled as she started to make our way to us. I got a bit fearful of her as she walked calmly and quietly to us. I mean, one fall slip of the tongue or something bad and that would mean that we, most likely I, would get sailed into the air by her. Zoey then approached us and smiled.

"Hi, Sasuke! Hi, Naruto!" she said rather cheerfully after just sending a guy flying into the air, "How are you guys doing?"

"Great, Zoey," Sasuke said, "Good to see you."

"Broke your new record, Zoey?" Naruto winked with a grin.

Zoey smirked with closed eyes and showed her fist to us, saying, "You know it! Like I'd ever let some loser hit on me, you're dead wrong. Anyways, what are you guys coming this way for?"

"Oh, we just got done with a little task, and we're treating our little brother to his first ever time at the Ramen Shack," Sasuke said.

Zoey then looked at me and asked, "Oh, so you're Sasuke and Naruto's little brother? What's your name?"

"My name is Thomas," I said smiling.

"Well, Thomas, I'm glad you're living here and got a family," she said, "but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Sasuke, can you help me find the North Rescue Bases?"

Sasuke held the map with her and said, "Sure! You see where Whiscash Pond's path divides before you go into his pond? The left and right go to the bases. I'm pretty sure your base is on the left."

"Thanks, Sasuke," she said, "You're a life saver! Marco's gonna kill me if I'm late. See you later."

She cheerfully started to make her way past us and walk towards the Square. I watched her walk away. She was kinda… cute, I guess. I mean, it's hard for a human to fall for a Pokémon. I mean, give me a break. There was no possible way that could happen. Suddenly, I felt a nudge from Naruto as I looked at him.

"She's cute, isn't she?" he teased me.

"W-What?" I widened my eyes and suddenly blushed, "Why are you asking me that?"

Sasuke smiled as Naruto smirked and raised his eyebrows at me, saying, "Oh, you do think she's cute?"

"I… ah…. Okay, maybe she's a bit cute," I said, looking away with a defeated look.

It was then that Naruto got a devilish smirk on his face and looked at me. I blinked at him as he cleared his throat. He suddenly turned around to Zoey and called out something that made my and Sasuke's faces pale up:

"HEY, ZOEY! MY LITTLE BRO THINKS YOU'RE CUTE!"

Immediately after he yelled that out, Sasuke cuffed his paws over his mouth and growled at him, "Naruto! Do you want Thomas to get hurt?"

But it was too late. Zoey's head slowly turned around with that bright red mark on her forehead again. Her left eyebrow twitched as he walked right back over and in front of me. I felt chills up my spine as I gulped. Great… my brother just got me into a world of trouble… and no offense, when it's trouble with a GIRL… THERE ARE NO HAPPY ENDINGS FOR THE GUY.

Sasuke and Naruto backed up as the Buizel said, "Z-Zoey, calm down. Please, don-"

He was cut off when Zoey said to me, "So, you think I'm cute, huh?"

I slowly nodded as I sort of shook in fear.

She cracked her knuckles and said, "So… lemme guess; you're gonna tell me how beautiful I am and hit on me for a date, right? All boys do that to me."

I blinked at her statement. Boys did that to her all the time? That's… kinda sick. You shouldn't try to get girls with pickup lines and trying to hit on her all the time; you need to show you care and that not only are you strong in physical strength, but also in heart. I put my hands behind my head and looked up to the sky away from her.

"Nope," I simply replied.

"Huh?" Zoey said, blinking obviously surprised, "What? Why not? Is it because you don't wanna get slugged by me?"

"No," I said, still looking at the sky, "If I want to date you, I would want you to love me and to come to me first by your own heart, not because I asked with stupid "manly" lines."

Sasuke and Naruto blinked in surprise at my statement, with Sasuke more relieved that I wasn't getting thrown into the air by a massive punch. I didn't say that stuff to get out of getting hit, cause I'm not a hypocrite. A hypocrite is not failing to do what you believe; it's failing to believe what you say. I believe what I say. I looked to Zoey, who was dumbfounded with what I said and looked away. She let her eyes dance on the ground as she tried to take in what I just said. But as she looked back at me… she…. BLUSHED….

OH NO…. DON'T TELL ME…. A POKÉMON HAS FALLEN FOR ME? Oh…. My…. Gosh….

"Um… you're blushing," I said to her, looking at her with a sweatdrop.

"Oh! … well, okay," Zoey said, smiling at me and getting a hold of herself, "Well, Thomas, I'll see you later. Hope you have fun at your new home!"

With that, she hurried off to follow Sasuke's directions to find her base. As we watched her go, I had a few thoughts flow through my mind. Was that for real…? Did Zoey just blush at me? Did that mean… she was maybe in… no! that can't be! A Pokémon falling for a human in reality? That's impossible… that couldn't work… yet…. She did look very cute…

"Heehee, she likes you, Thomas!" I heard as two puppy paws touched my chest and I saw Naruto grin in my face.

I felt that big fire rage inside of me as I got the red mark Zoey had on my forehead too. I growled as my eyes turned white with anger (Kinda like those funny moments on anime shows where characters freak out) .

"NARUTO! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR? YOU ALMOST GOT ME KILLED!" I yelled.

"Naruto, that was extremely dangerous!" Sasuke said behind him, "Zoey could've decked him out hard because of your actions. You need to be more careful. You took such a big risk."

"But it paid off, didn't it?" Naruto cheerfully grinned and wagged his tail, "Zoey really likes Thomas… and he likes her back."

"SAY WHAT!?" I yelled as my ears twitched to that.

Seeing that I was quite disturbed and ticked off at that, Naruto looked at me with an older brother smirk and said, "Oh, you mad? You like her and you know it, Thomas!"

"I DO NOT!" I yelled.

Sasuke shrugged and rolled his eyes, having to watch a possible fight occur between his younger siblings. It was then Naruto decided to torture me with this taunting and backed up. He laughed and teased me by singing 'Thomas and Zoey, sitting in a tree' and taunted me with kissing faces. It was then that I calmly…. No…. THAT I CHOSE TO LAYETH THE SMACKDOWN ON THAT PUPPY'S HIND!

I ran up to him and tackled him to the ground. I literally put Naruto into a sleeper-hold that I saw on TV and started to shake him around and give him massive noogies. This only resulted in him laughing at me more, which resulted in me in getting more ticked off. I will admit; this was the first time as brothers we got on each other's cases. I laugh at it now, but around that time… no.

"NARUTO! TAKE IT BACK!" I yelled with a vein in my forehead almost popped and the red mark kept getting bigger.

"AHAHAHHA! SEE? THIS PROVES YOU DO LIKE HER!" Naruto laughed as he endured my noogie of death.

Before it got really good and I gave Naruto any permanent injuries, we both felt two orange paws separate us and then picked us up. They then held us on both sides of Sasuke's body as he walked us to the Ramen Shack.

"Okay, the last thing I need is for my brothers to kill each other," Sasuke said chuckling, "Let's get to dinner, okay?"

With that, he carried both of us to the Ramen Shack. Naruto giggled as he grinned at me and then looked forward. I was a tad annoyed about the teasing, but at least I didn't feel like strangling him anymore. Yet, Zoey was kinda on my mind. Was it really true about guys only caring about dating her? I felt sad for her a bit. I hope maybe I can be a good friend of hers… even if I have to endure Naruto's immature teasing. However… why do I get the feeling that he's gonna tease me about Zoey more in the future?

-


	52. Chapter 52

There was a tiny shack building that came into my view as Sasuke continued to carry me and Naruto to it after our scuffle. It was funny for anyone near us to see a Buizel carrying a Poochyena in one arm and a Pikachu in another. It was kind of fun, yet embarrassing. But as we got **close**, Sasuke put us both down and gave us a clever glare.

"All right, you two; I don't want you guys to cause any trouble or to act like you just did, okay?" Sasuke said when he smirked.

"Yeah, Thomas, did you hear him?" Naruto teased me as he nuzzled me with a giggle.

"Hopefully clearer than you did," I teased back to him, causing him to playfully growl at me with a grin.

We suddenly felt a paw grab us around our **necks** and result into a pair of headlocks. I could hear Naruto growl and laugh as I opened my eyes to see Sasuke having us trapped with a sigh. He had a face of great patience as he scratched our chins. I have to say… that was amazing. I loved it… Sasuke's paws scratching my chin caused me to somehow surrender control of my body to him. I could feel my left leg starting to twitch and stomp the ground repeatedly. My arms went limp as I grunted in pleasure. At the time, I didn't know that Naruto was licking repeatedly and his right hind leg started itching his torso over and over again in **response**.

"Now… are we gonna behave?" Sasuke asked smiling.

"Yeeeeeeees…" Naruto said with a smile as his eyes rolled up in the back of his head in pleasure.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaah…" I managed to say as I rested my head into his side.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna let go. Let's hurry to the shack," Sasuke said as he stopped scratching us and continued to the shack.

As Naruto and I regained our composure, we eventually got to a yellow and white building that had several seats with a counter that look like a bar back at Kilyla City. (The only reason I know that was because Old Man Fellows went to buy some **wine** for a holiday he and some adults were celebrating, and I accompanied him. Trust me; I don't drink.) Behind the counter was a **male** Infernape cooking noodles. He was accompanied by a female Flaafy cleaning the counters.

"That's Infernape and Flaafy. They're a couple who runs this Ramen Shack," Sasuke told me.

"They make the best ramen in the entire world!" Naruto said, wagging his tail happily.

Upon hearing Naruto's joyful remark, Flaafy looked up and saw us. She immediately smiled with happiness and turned to her husband.

"Honey, Naruto and Sasuke are here for ramen! And they brought somebody new!" she said.

The Infernape turned around with excitement in a tornado-style fashion and said, "Sasuke! Naruto! How are you doing, my little buddies?"

"Great, Infernape!" Naruto cheerfully said as he jumped into one of the seats and sat down, "We're just got done with a cool rescue mission!"

"Oh, really? You finally were able to go on an official rescue mission?" Infernape said smiling as he put in a new batch of noodles.

"Yeah, and we're really hungry!" Naruto said, with his tongue out.

"Well, we're always happy to serve our two best customers," Flaafy said, obviously referring to my brothers as she then looked at me, "So, who's your new friend?"

"Well, after an incident with a recent Monster House, we adopted him and brought him here to live with us. This is Thomas, our new little brother," Sasuke said as both he and Naruto sat proudly smiling.

"Hello, nice to meet you," I said smiling as I nodded.

"Well, if that means you're new here, then you haven't lived until you've tried some of our noodles!" Infernape said proudly, "We got the best ramen in the world! I'm excited for you to try it for the first time! Go ahead and tell me what flavor you want. I'll start making it."

I looked up at the menu and was secretly surprised at how many flavors there were. No offense to you Pokémon, but I'm not used to Pokémon knowing how to make human food and so many flavors. I'm not being mean; it's just it's kinda weird to see a creature that's used to eating Pokéfood from a bowl on the floor know how to make something a human would make in a college dorm kitchen.

Upon seeing the flavor I wanted, I sat next to Naruto's right side, as Sasuke sat on his other, and said, "I guess I'll try to chicken flavor ramen."

"Oh, wow. Nobody has ordered that in months," Flaafy said, "but I know you'll love it! And what will you boys have?"

"The usual; I'll have the oriental flavor ramen with extra corn in it, please," Sasuke said.

"And I'll have the miso ramen with extra BBQ pork! Lots of it!" Naruto said, licking his lips and wagging his tail.

"Could you make that two orders of the miso flavor? Same amount of BBQ pork," we heard a gentle older voice say.

We all looked to the right to see a Machoke come into the shack. He was very young, but something about the air around him made him seem wise, mature, and important. All the other people except me widened their eyes in shock and smiled.

"Bless my soul! Machoke, leader of Team Champ in our shack! Of course, we'll get all four of your orders ready as quickly as possible!" Infernape said as he and Flaafy enthusiastically prepared our ramen.

Machoke looked over at us and said, "Ah, Sasuke, Naruto. It's a pleasure to see you again. Have you two been effectively training for the Rescue Team Exams?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe. I'm so pumped to be a part of this year's exams!" Naruto said cheerfully, "And I heard you're gonna be a proctor for this year and help with the second stage!"

"If we're lucky," Sasuke chuckled with a smile, "maybe we can get you as our proctor."

"Ha-ha, you would think so, wouldn't you?" Machoke laughed out loud and said, "But I'm afraid I won't be pulling any punches this year. I can't go easy, just because you're my friends. It wouldn't be fair for the others taking it for you to get a free pass."

Hmm… second proctor… did that mean the Rescue Team Exams were more than just a written test and had more than one stage? I wondered how intense it would be. If Naruto and Sasuke trained to get this good, and I am taking it with them… would I possibly drag them down?

"Well, you're a new face around these parts, young man," I was snapped out of my thinking with Machoke talking to me, "I take it you're new here?"

"Yes, I am, sir," I said, trying to be polite and not saying anything I'm not supposed to.

"This is our adopted little brother, Thomas," Sasuke introduced with a smile as Naruto watched his meal being cooked, almost drooling.

Suddenly, Machoke was silent and nodded, looking back at me. Sasuke and I took big notice of this; he suddenly changed his mood upon hearing my name. Did I do something wrong that made my name associated badly? However, this pondering was cut off this time by Flaafy bringing us our bowls of ramen as she and Infernape smiled.

"We hope you enjoy them!" she said.

"All right!" Naruto said cheering, "I can't wait to dig in!"

Now the first two thoughts that popped into my head about Naruto came right around this point. First one was one that I had been wondering since I took them into my house; how much can that Poochyena eat? I chose not to mention it to you all at first, but now I decided to take it into consideration. Naruto eats so much, I'm surprised he isn't a Munchlax. I'm being honest here; he eats more than that Pokémon can. He's always hungry and yet he never gains weight or goes to the bathroom for a long time. Honestly, my older brother surprises me to no end.

And then the second thought is this; you usually eat ramen with chopsticks, correct? I'm sitting there with him and Sasuke and I watch as he reaches for a pair. And now as Machoke, Sasuke, and I reach for a pair, I'm thinking what you're probably might be starting to; how on earth is a POOCHYENA (WHO HAS PAWS BY THE WAY) going to hold a pair of chopsticks and use them effectively? It turns out what he does is he sticks the chopsticks in between two of his toes and then somehow uses them like it's second nature. I blinked and flinched at the sight as Machoke and Sasuke ate theirs.

"Naruto, doesn't that hurt?" I asked in disbelief.

"Oh, no," he said as he slowly slurped his first bite of ramen and dove into the BBQ pork.

"He's been using them like that since he was able to know what they were at six years of age," Sasuke said happily, "So you have nothing to worry ab- Naruto! Slow down! You're gonna choke on your food!"

Naruto turned to him with a mouthful of ramen (some of them hanging out of his mouth) and said, "Whmmf dmd ymmm smmy?"

I began to join with the laughter of the Ramen Shack owners as Sasuke shook his head and buried his face in his paws, saying, "Oh, never mind. Just eat your bowl."

I felt bad for Sasuke; don't get me wrong. I love Naruto with all my heart, but who knows how many days that Buizel had to endure and go through this kind of stuff. I shook my head and watched as Naruto just shrugged and went back to slurping and eating his food. I went back to eating my ramen. As I ate my first bite, I was shocked; THIS WAS AWESOME! I never had such good ramen before! It was even better than my mo- … Um… nobody heard that, okay? Just ignore that last comment.

But anyways, I remember myself saying out loud, "This is amazing! I love it!"

"Ha-ha! Seems we got another customer pleased at the Ramen Shack, sweetheart!" Infernape said proudly as he rubbed his nose and Flaafy nodded with a smile.

"Isn't it the best!?" Naruto said excitedly, barely gulping down a whole piece of pork he shoved into his mouth and causing Sasuke to chuckle.

"Yeah, it's really good," I said with a smile as I went back to eating my delicious meal. (I bet you're getting hungry; good, that's why I'm doing this to you. Hehe…)

However, my attention was caught from eating when Machoke said, "So, you're Thomas, right?"

"Yes, sir," I said as I looked at him.

"Hmm… does that mean you're THE Thomas that Whiscash Elder told me about?" he asked.

I don't know whether to say I felt dread, concern, or pride, but I can say for a fact I felt chills up my spine when I heard that. I mean, Machoke seemed like a good guy, but the way he said it made me feel like I was in DEEP trouble; the kind of deep trouble that would make a kid wish he could stay longer at school when he got a detention or worse. Luckily, both my brothers immediately looked up and tuned into the conversation.

"Wait, Whiscash Elder told you about Thomas?" Sasuke asked, "Is he in trouble?"

"Oh, not at all," Machoke said with a comforting smile, "I'm not really supposed to be talking about it… but Whiscash Elder called the leaders of the 5 top Rescue Teams except Lucario and A.C.T to keep a close eye out on Thomas. According to him, you impressed him by standing up for Caterpie, fulfilling your promise of saving him, and even breaking the rules to save Zev. I must say; even I'm interested in him."

I rubbed the back of my head as I closed my eyes, smiling with a blush to match. Naruto nudged me with a grin.

"How about that? The first day you're here, and you already got the Elder of the Square's eye on you," he said with pride, "You must be really special; it's rare for him to pay a LOT of attention to a specific Pokémon."

"Also, it must be very special if he tells the best Rescue Teams to watch you from behind the scenes," Sasuke added as he smirked.

"So, Thomas," Machoke said and gained my attention, "Keep doing what you're doing. We'll be watching."

"Okay, sir," I said with a grin.

"Aw, man! I ate all of it!" Naruto said in a pouting manner as he looked at his bowl, which had only flavored water left in it.

"That's what you get for not slowing down when you eat," Sasuke said, folding his arms after finishing his bowl, "I'm not surprised that your stomach is a black hole."

"But it's just so good… can I have another bowl, bro? Please?" Naruto begged him with the cute look he gave me back at the house.

"Are you serious? After eating that much BBQ pork in your ramen!? You're gonna freaking puke when we get home!" Sasuke exclaimed, causing me to laugh when I had a mouthful of noodles and even Machoke to chuckle a bit.

"No, I won't! I promise! Please? PLEASE?" Naruto whimpered and snuggled into Sasuke.

I snickered and smirked at Sasuke; HAHA! Now he gets to feel what it's like on the other end of the cute look! I watched him slowly start to give in as Naruto licked his face cutely and panted, wagging his tail. The Buizel tried to look away, but like I said, it's hard to ignore a cute look. I watched close his eyes and grit his teeth.

"Nnnnnnngh... Ahhhhh, okay," Sasuke said with a smile as he rolled his eyes.

"YAY!" Naruto happily cheered as Flaafy giggled and took his bowl for a refill.

"Sasuke, I'll make it easier on you; I'll make reorders for you four free today, courtesy of your younger brother," Infernape said nodding to me.

"ALL RIGHT!" Naruto exclaimed as us four customers smiled, "I'm gonna eat A LOT OF RAMEN AND BBQ PORK NOW!"

"Oh, no you don't! One more bowl; that's it," Sasuke said, being rewarded by Naruto giving him a look that either said "Don't be a fun spoiler" or "I'm still gonna eat more whether you like it or not".

"Heh, you got two interesting brothers, Thomas," Machoke said, grinning, "You're bound to have one huge adventure with them."

I grinned and laughed at that comment. Machoke was a great guy. I liked him from the get-go. He seemed to be someone that I could view as an older parent. It was then I started thinking about what he said in terms of Whiscash Elder. I must admit; I did a lot in one day. Challenge the Elder of the town, make quite a statement, argue with Lucario and Batsu, almost get into a fight with King… and that's not even the half of it yet. But so many names went through my head of people I knew; Batsu… King… Zev… Zeke… Zoey… Machoke… and Caterpie… I knew that if I had made this big of a performance on my first day here, that I would be in for one heck of a life in my new home, in which by now I hope so far you're enjoying my story.

-


	53. Chapter 53

Well, we finally found ourselves heading back from a delicious meal as we had said good-bye to Machoke, Infernape, and Flaafy. We eventually began walking back into the Square. Sasuke had remembered that we had forgotten to **talk** with their aunt and uncle, but decided to do it in the morning. We began walking back towards the West Rescue Bases to go home. I chuckled as Naruto was licking his chops with a great big smile.

"MMMM! That was super good!" Naruto said wagging his tail.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it, but if I see even a speck of vomit or hear you gag tonight, you're sleeping outside," Sasuke warned with a serious face (although we all know he was kidding).

"Oh, come on, Sasuke! It was really good ramen!" Naruto protested as he whined like a little kid.

"Yes, it was, and I can't wait to go back again, but if we're gonna be taking the rescue team exams, you don't need any **extra fat** on your body," the Buizel said, starting to smirk.

A look of horror crossed the horizon known as Naruto's face as the puppy said, "I'm not fat! I exercise every day!"

"Oh really?" Sasuke said as he picked Naruto's front legs off the ground.

Both Naruto and I blinked as he then slowly but non-painfully pinched a bit of Naruto's fur and skin between two of his fingers. Sasuke raised an **eyebrow** at his younger brother, who giggled a bit too nervously. He then looked to see if nobody was there and once that was confirmed, he spoke.

"Naruto, I wasn't able to pinch that much skin before we left for the human world. You've been packing on some extra pounds you don't need, and that extra bowl of ramen and BBQ pork is just gonna add to it," Sasuke said in a constructive yet criticizing way.

"But, that was before I met Thomas and he gave me yummy Pokéfood!" Naruto said in rebuttal with a smile.

"What, so you're gonna blame this on me?" I said with a shaking head that had a grin attached on it, "I thought you two were starving, so I got a lot of food for you."

"Which I thank you for, by the way!" Naruto said, licking his lips, "That sausage sandwich things we got for breakfast were the best!"

"Naruto…" Sasuke groaned as he rubbed his forehead, "Is the only thing that goes through your head about eating?"

"No, it also thinks of ways that I can make Thomas laugh," Naruto said grinning, "I love it when he's happy and smiling."

I felt a **blush** sweep across my face as I smirked. It was kinda fun and nice that Naruto and Sasuke always kept their minds on how to make me happy. I guess taking them into my arms back at home made them make it their goal to take **care** of me here in their home. I watched as Sasuke giggled from that answer.

"Thanks, Naruto; I appreciate it," I said.

"So… um… are you guys done with your emotional moment?" We all heard.

Suddenly, in unison, we looked to our left to see where the voice was coming from. It was Zev, standing against a tree with his arms folded. He was watching us with a collected and calm look as we all froze.

"W-What the- Zev, when did you get here?" Naruto asked in shock.

"About the time when Sasuke asked you about what's in your head," he said (with us thankful he didn't hear anything about the human world), "But I'm not here to cause trouble. I actually want to talk with Thomas."

"Me?" I pointed to myself and said.

"Is there another Thomas with you guys? If not, then yes you. C'mere," Zev motioned me with his hand.

I looked to my brothers as they looked back. I trusted Zev to help me on the rescue mission, but he was free to go after it. I mean, I also did stick my neck out for him, so I don't think he'd be that low and backstab me. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to not be bothered by it… SO MUCH. But I could tell a part of them was really wondering and hesitant to let me talk to Zev alone.

"Um… hello? Thomas? Today, man, come here," Zev said, starting to get impatient.

I slowly nodded to my brothers, saying I would go over. Sasuke and Naruto immediately went on the guarding manner, just in case. They watched me as I walked over slowly to Zev. He rolled his eyes as he gave me the "You-gotta-be-kidding" look.

"Thomas, it's not like I'm gonna bite you," he said with a groan as I was over in front of him, "I ain't gonna do anything to you. I just wanna know something."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Thomas, I know you just came here as of today, so I'm just setting you straight here about me; people here don't like me. They hate me, leave me alone, abandon me… I'm used to broken promises," Zev said, "But you… I don't get you… I take you hostage, yet you give me your word that you won't abandon me, you keep that promise, and end saving my life back-to-back. I don't get why you saved me. Why?"

I simply smiled and said, "Because it's the right thing to do. I wasn't just gonna abandon you for no reason, Zev. I made a promise, and I intend to keep promises when I make them."

I thought that I had made my point, but Zev didn't seem so impressed. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Leaning off the tree, he put his hands on his hips and let out a sigh.

"All right, kid. Enough is enough. What do you want?" he asked.

I blinked in shock. I wasn't prepared for that kind of answer. I mean, after Zev smiled and said thanks in his own way back at the pond, he sounded happy. During his time being away, did he think I was giving him a different message?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Come on, Thomas," the Grovyle said, "Nobody ever does something for me without wanting something in return. So, let's hear it. What do you want from me?"

Well, I decided to be that nobody as I smiled at him and said, "Nothing."

Zev's eyes blinked in shock as he tried to recollect what I just said. Nothing was the reply I did indeed give him, but I bet it wasn't one that he was used to getting. He tried to say something, struggled to look back at me, but I think I broke him at that moment. Sasuke and Naruto were smiling in pride behind me at what I had said. They watched as Zev finally shook his head and looked at me.

"N-Nothing…? You mean I'm really free to go? No favors, errands, anything?" he asked, almost sounding like he wanted me to reconsider.

"That's right, Zev," I said smiling, "I keep my word. You're free to go."

With that, I turned right around and started to walk back to my brothers, who were smiling at me. I felt good saying that, reassuring Zev that I wasn't like everybody else. But then I heard footsteps come from behind me advancing.

"Hey! Hold it!" Zev said, as I turned around to face him, "I can't let you just walk away after you did something nice for me and expect nothing in return!"

"Huh? Why not?" I asked.

"Because… it… I… tch… grrr… IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!" Zev struggled to say as he shook his head with disbelief.

"Don't you think it should, Zev?" Sasuke said, "That's the way it should be. We should be doing nice stuff to other people without expecting anything from others."

I don't know if he took my brother's statement the wrong way, but the ticking in Zev's head finally went beserk as he growled and yelled, "That's it! There's no way I'm letting Thomas go without me repaying him somehow!"

I felt a sweatdrop go down my head as I chuckled nervously, "Z-Zev, I'm not trying to use reverse psychology or pity. I'm being honest; you don't have to owe me anything!"

"Don't give me that!" Zev said as his eyes went into anime-angry mode (which now at the present time, I laugh every time I think of it), "Rggh…. You! You three are a rescue team, right? I want in."

All of us did a bit of a double take. That was unexpecting! Zev wanted to join our rescue team? I kinda felt bad for the guy. I mean, was he gonna regret this coming down the road? Was he gonna beat himself up, joining a team that he could hate in the future? I didn't want to say anything to encourage him to reconsider though; it appeared I already burned a hole through his head, causing him to lose it.

"W-What!? Really? You wanna join?" Naruto said, happily as he wagged his tail, completely OBLIVIOUS to Zev's irritation.

"What, are you freaking deaf? I just said that!" Zev snapped at him as he folded his arms.

"I-I'm kind of taken back at this being so sudden… but if you're really serious, Zev, we're happy for you to join our Rescue Team!" Sasuke said with a smile.

Zev closed his eyes as he grunted with a nod. I smirked at him, withdrawing from my laughter which was building inside of me. I watched as he opened his eyes and look at Sasuke.

"So, is there anything I should know? Anything at all?" he asked.

"Well, we're meeting in front of Kangaskhan Storage tomorrow morning," Sasuke said with a smile.

"Fine, I'll meet you there," Zev said as he looked at me, "I'll repay that debt. You just watch me."

With that, Zev once again showed off his agility and speed by backflipping into a branch in the nearest tree and jumping away. As he was clear out of view, the three of us looked at each other. We slowly went from a smile to bursting into tears from laughter. No offense to you, Zev, but you were absolutely ridiculous back there! We just kept laughing and laughing as the three of us leaned against each other and struggled to walk back to the base in which we lived in.

-


	54. Chapter 54

Finally, we got into the base as I saw the bed. Man, it looked so inviting as I yawned and slowly dragged my feet over. Gosh, what a day! Let's recap! I get turned into a human while being awake, something I will do again if needed but rather not. I got pelted…. No…. had a rock DRILLED into my temple by King. He then threatened to beat me up. I get introduced to the leader of my new home, only to be challenge him on saving a child's life. We then go on a rescue mission with the strongest rookie that's tied with Sasuke, the Square bully, and a famous and hated pickpocket. Oh, right, I got taken hostage by him. We fight some battles, including a huge Ariados that poisons me. When we get back, I have to save the pickpocket's life from being blamed for a crime he didn't do. I almost get banned from being a Rescue Team member, end up getting saved. Now I have the top Pokémon watching me and a girl who might be in love with me. What a happy place…

And that was only paragraph one…. Geez, one heck of a first day. I watched as Naruto collapsed on the bed to my right as I laid down next to him. Sasuke chuckled at us as we smirked.

"Bunch of lazy bums, you two are…" he teased us with a smile.

"Hey, give me a break…. Your Pokémon world is so energetic… I barely survived a day here," I smirked as I rebuttled back.

"Ah, you'll get used to it sooner than you think. Besides, you're an electric Pokémon," Sasuke said as he folded his arms, "There's a rumor that Electric types have more physical energy because electricity is a powerful form of energy and their bodies live with it."

"So, technically, you're like a living battery!" Naruto said happily, as his tail wagged, hitting my legs as the result.

"I'm too tired to tell if that was a teasing remark or a compliment…" I said as I yawned in sync with Naruto.

"Ahhh…. We had an awesome day with our new brother and my tummy is full… this day couldn't get any better…" Naruto said as he began to try to fall asleep.

"Oh? I guess you don't want a belly rub then," I said as I rolled over onto my back and yawned.

Suddenly, before I could finish my yawn, I felt a huge thud on top of me. I opened my eyes suddenly to see Naruto laying on me with an excited grin. He panted as his tail wagged faster.

"You would give me a belly rub? Oh, please, Thomas! Can I have one? Please? You give the best belly rubs! Pretty please?" he begged with those sparkling cute eyes that I love.

I grinned and sighed as I said, "All right, let me sit up."

Naruto said 'YES!' under his breath as he got off me and I sat up. I looked at him with a smile as he got ready for one of my belly rubs.

"Okay, sit with your back on my chest," I said.

Naruto slowly walked over and then turned around. He then sat on his behind and let his hind legs lay in front of him. He leaned into me with a comfortable and content sigh as he relaxed his body. His fur was so warm against mine. I… just still don't comprehend how my Pokémon body can feel so at peace with this. But for now, I will love it.

"Okay, here I come," I whispered gently as both my paws touched Naruto's belly and rubbed in circles.

Soon after feeling my paws on his belly, Naruto began to close his eyes and wag his tail slower as his head leaned back and rested against mine. His front legs rested on my arms as he moaned and grunted with every scratch I added to the belly rub. A dreamy smirk came across his face as his hind legs kicked a bit.

"Ohhh…. Ohhh, that's…. mmm…." Naruto could barely say as his tongue hang out.

"Hehe. While you're keeping him occupied, Thomas, I'll lock our base up so we're safe while we sleep," Sasuke said.

He walked to the entrance and locked the door. As he began to check on the windows to make sure they were locked, I felt Naruto began to grow weaker in his hind legs' kicking started to slow down with every rub and scratch. His face was completely written over with happiness as he began to become more limp like a piece of string.

"Mmmmmm…. Pleeeeeeease dooooooon't stooooooooop…." He quietly whispered to me as he finally stopped moving and rested in my arms.

It just proved to me how much he loved and trusted me. From a scared little Poochyena I rescued at that alcove to this… I could never have felt any happier than I did right now. I felt pride swoosh up inside of me; a Pokémon loved me and wanted to be with me. It's just… there's this pride as a human when a Pokémon deems you worthy enough to be his/her/its friend… partner… FAMILY. And I was so proud to be Sasuke and Naruto's brother.

My thoughts were caught off by a certain happy-whimper from a certain Poochyena. I looked to see Naruto take a huge deep breath and sigh, but cause his lips were closed, his lips did that car impression kids do sometimes when they're silly. Sasuke and I laughed at him, as he could only have the energy to make a exhausted smile. He turned his head to my neck and with the last of his energy, gave me weak licks to my neck. His tongue was wet and warm as he panted when he licked. After about five licks, he stopped and nuzzled his mouth into my neck.

"Thoooooomaaaaaaas…. I looooooovee yoooouuuuu…." Naruto weakly whispered.

"I love you too, Naruto," I said softly as he closed his eyes.

With that, I caused my older brother to go to sleep from belly rubs and scratches. He went completely limp in my arms as Sasuke chuckled and walked over. He slowly helped me lay him down as he grabbed my blanket and covered him up. He made snoring sounds as Sasuke smiled.

"He really thinks you're something else. To be honest, when we first met you, he's the one that warmed up to you first. I said that we had to be careful, but he's the one that said that we could trust you immediately," Sasuke told me.

I gasped, smiled, and looked at my sleeping brother as I chuckled, "That's our Naruto, all right."

"Honestly, he really adores you. In fact, he's the one who probably begged the most for you to come with us to Jirachi," Sasuke said with a smile.

I giggled at my brother as his left ear twitched. Sure, he had irritated me earlier today with that Zoey comment, but I did love him. I chuckled at his little face as he giggled at his dream.

"Well…" I heard Sasuke say as he sat behind me and grab my face gently, "Now that Naruto's turn is done, you're next."

Suddenly, I felt Sasuke's paws scratch my cheeks where the red circles were. Oh wow, did that feel good! You have no idea how great that felt. He kept scratching as I slowly grinned and leaned back into his furry chest.

"Hmhmhm, so you like your cheeks scratched, do you?" Sasuke said softly.

"Mmmmmmmm…."

I literally tried to say 'I do', but the feeling was so good, it prevented me from using words. Maybe it is how Pokémon feel when they're petted, scratched, and rubbed in a good way. They're unable to have the energy to speak or do anything, because they enjoy it so much. I grinned as I went limp in Sasuke's arms. My brother chuckled as he kissed my forehead.

"If you're tired, brother…. You can go to sleep. I don't mind," he whispered in my ear.

I moaned in comfort as he slowly started to slouched me so that when I did fall asleep, he'd slip me next to Naruto under the covers and then join himself. I yawned as he nuzzled my neck. I nuzzled his right paw right back. I smiled as he giggled. It was then I started to become sleepy. My vision blurred, and my body went limp. I then remember giggling as Sasuke licked the top of my head.

"Good-night, Thomas," I barely heard as I drifted into sleep.

-

As I opened my eyes, I looked around to see I wasn't in the base… I was in this green and blue dimension… I didn't understand where I was… I looked around to see if I could find Sasuke and Naruto…

But I was alone… I didn't understand…. Where was I...? I was floating and dizzy as I looked around… Was this something… I needed to know or understand at all…?

Suddenly… I saw a huge flash in front of me… I guess… that was the sun… wow…. Are we already in daytime…? I didn't…. understand what's going on…?

Suddenly… I saw a form…. No…. two forms floating with me…. but… they weren't Sasuke and Naruto…. They were bigger…

They turned to me… and called out…. But I couldn't hear them… not loud enough… and when I tried to call for them… suddenly, I was slowly fading away from this dimension…

I guess…. Only time will tell… when I realize what this weird experience meant….

-


	55. Chapter 55

The sun shined down on my face as I slowly started to wake up. I guess that was some sort of dream I had. But it was so weird. Why of all places and things would I have a dream that was blurry the whole way through? It didn't make sense at all. Hmm… it also didn't make sense how my body felt warmer than usual. Sure, the shine was shining on me, but it didn't feel like it was on top of me.

"Good morning, little brother," I suddenly heard right in my face.

I opened my eyes to see Naruto nose-to-nose with me. He was lying on top of my body and his front paws on my arms, pinning me down to the **bed**. I couldn't move whatsoever as I laid helpless staring at him. I tried to get up, but Naruto had me in a **disadvantage**.

"Morning, Naruto," I said, as I struggled.

"What's the matter, Thomas?" Naruto asked as his head tilted.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I said smiling as I stopped and looked at his smirking face, "You've pinned me down so I can't move!"

"Oh, really…?" Naruto said with a devilish grin, "You can't?"

"U-Uh…" I stuttered as I suddenly realized what I just did.

It was then Naruto got that glimmer in his eye; the kind of glimmer that makes people know they were in trouble. I got super nervous as he approached my face closer and closer. He slowly open his mouth and with his tongue, licked my face. I don't know how it tickled, but it was unbearably ticklish. I busted out into an uncontrollable giggle fit.

"Nohohoho! No, Naharuto! No, don't. Please, don't do that," I giggled and begged.

"Don't do what? This?" Naruto teased as he licked my face again.

"YEHEHEHS! STOP! Stop. Please, Naruto, that tickles. Please don't," I begged as I struggled to get free.

Naruto smirked as he said, "I love your laugh, Thomas. So, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna make you laugh."

It was then I went through one of the most agonizing tortures of tickling I've even gone through. Naruto's tongue was so wet and it sent ticklish feelings through my nerves. I couldn't beg or **talk**; all I could do was to move my head as best as I can and pound my feet on the bed. Naruto smiled as his tail wagged and he kept licking me.

It was then Sasuke had come in from outside and walked into our base. He saw us and chuckled, shaking his head after folding his arms. He watched us until I was able to get a look of him. I then struggled to **speak** to him as Naruto kept licking me.

"HEHEHEHEHEELP! SASUKE! PLEHEHEHEASE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I begged in laughter.

The Buizel chuckled as he walked over and slowly crept behind Naruto. Once the Poochyena realized who I had called out to, he turned to see Sasuke grab him and pull him off me. He slowly wrapped his arms around his chest and front arms and sat them down, causing Naruto to be sitting slouched and with his hind legs out.

"Um…. Hi, bro!" Naruto said with a smile and an anime-style sweatdrop coming down his face.

"So, Naruto, what were you doing to Thomas?" Sasuke said smiling as he held him.

"Oh, that. We were just playing around, and I was saying how much I love his laugh," Naruto replied.

I smirked as Sasuke looked at me and raised his eyebrow.

"Well, the laugh part is right…" I said, calming down as I walked over.

"I see… I guess it's only fair for if Naruto got to tickle you, I think you should have the right to tickle him back," Sasuke said with a grin.

Naruto's face paled as he gulped and said, "N-No, wait! Come on, Sasuke; I was just playing around with him."

"Thomas, Naruto's extremely ticklish on his hind paws and pads; why don't you just stroke them a bit?" Sasuke said with a bit of a chuckle.

"NO! NO, NOT THERE! PLEASE! I CAN'T STAND THAT!" Naruto pleaded as he struggled to get free.

I smirked as I slowly took a hold of his little paws and started to stroke them. Naruto burst out into uncontrollable laughter. No giggles, no chuckles, straight out laughter. He went limp as Sasuke nuzzled his neck, causing him to laugh even harder. He tried to beg me to stop, but every time he got a breath, I'd poke through his toes, stroke his heels, and do anything it took to make him laugh hysterically. After a few minutes, he finally was able to speak a bit.

"STAHAHHAHAP! THOHOHOHHOHMAS! STAHHAHAHAHAAHHAP!" he howled in laughter.

I stopped, but held his tiny little puppy feet in my paws. He gasped and panted as he caught his breath. Sasuke smiled as his brother laid his head back into him. Naruto panted as he looked at me with mercy and grace hoping in his eyes. His toes wiggled a bit as I placed my right hand on his feet while holding them with my left.

"No, plehease. Thomas, don't tickle me anymore. I beg you," he begged me.

"Oh, really?" I said as I smirked and just touched one of his toes.

Naruto flinched with a giggle as he nodded and said, "I promise I won't tickle you ever again! I promise! Please, don't tickle me anymore!"

Now, I know that you know that is a BIG LIE. Naruto will tickle me on many occasions later to come. But you know, that cute little face of his laughing satisfied me for a while. So I decided to nod and let him go. I nodded to Sasuke as he let go of Naruto. The puppy sighed a huge relief as he stood up after I let go of his feet. He smiled at me as he came over and snuggled.

"You got me, you little bugger, you," he laughed as I smiled.

"You two are so silly," Sasuke said to us, "You guys are just so ticklish, that you act so silly."

"Oh, yeah?" I said as I smirked and got up.

You know, I hatched a very devious plan then. I decided to make him laugh too. I mean, I knew that Naruto was ticklish. After all, back in my journal, Sasuke had pinned him down and tickled him back in my room. And of course, even as a human, I'm ticklish. The worst tickling I've ever gotten was when Tucker had pinned me down at the alcove when we were eleven years old and he tickled me for a half-an-hour nonstop. Oh, man, I couldn't stop giggling for an hour after that. Of course, I got my revenge, thanks to Kaname and Jocinda…. Let's just say it involved a tree, a hook, and a certain somebody's underwear.

(Hehehehehehe….)

Anyways, I slowly approached with a cute face. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he stepped closer to me and ended up belly-to-belly with me. He definitely was older and smarter than me; he caught on with my cute look.

"Okay, what are you up to?" Sasuke said.

"Nothing…" I said as I sneaked my right hand into his left armpit and started to tickle there.

But to my surprise, Sasuke didn't laugh or smile. He stood there as he watched me. Shrugging as he sat down with my paw still tickling him, he folded his arms and looked at me. He shook his head as Naruto came over.

"Sorry, Thomas, but I'm not ticklish; you're wasting your time," he said as he closed his eyes.

No, I'm not. I know that Buizel was ticklish somehow. I sat down on his left side and kept tickling his armpit as a smile slowly started to come across his face. Naruto smirked as he sat on his right side and slowly sneaked his paw into Sasuke's right armpit. As he wiggled and tickled him, Sasuke started to smile more and tense up.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked with a grin, "Why are you tensing up? You're not ticklish, right?"

"I'm not ticklish; I'm just smiling at your attempt to try to tickle me," he said as he started to suspiciously close his arms tighter to his body so our paws couldn't tickle his pits.

"Oh, you liar," I said giggling as I then slowly tickled his belly with my other paw.

"Come on; give up," Naruto said as he took his other paw and tickled his neck.

It was then Sasuke gritted his teeth and squirmed as we kept tickling him. His tail wagged and his eyes closed as he made "gggh" and "pffft" noises. We could tell; he was really close to breaking as he smiled wider. His body became weak as I then looked at Naruto.

"Naruto, how about you tickle his feet?" I said.

Sasuke's **eyes widened** as Naruto replied, "Okay, I will, brother."

"NO! DON'T TICKLE ME THERE!" we suddenly heard as Sasuke immediately shielded his feet with a laughing yelp.

Yes! We did it! Our tickling then caused Sasuke to constantly move his arms around his body, trying to shield himself from our tickling. But it was futile; Sasuke started to laugh uncontrollably as we got on top of him and continued our tickle assault. We watched his face laugh and grin as we tickled all over his body.

"AHAHHAHA! ALL RIGHT! I ADMIT IT! I'M TICKLISH! STHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHP AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" he begged us.

"Um… are you three little kiddies done with your 'tickle fest'?" we suddenly heard.

We all turned to see Zev waiting for us at the doorway. He had his arms folded and leaning against one of the doorposts. He watched us blush embarrassingly and stood up.

"Oh, Zev…. I, uh, didn't think you'd meet us here; I thought you would meet us at Kangaskhan Storage," Sasuke said as he rubbed his head and I grabbed my headband.

"Yeah, I did, but let's face it; my word alone doesn't make people in Pokémon Square safe. If I am to go into public without causing an uproar, I have to be with people that the Pokémon trust," he said with a sigh and rolling of the eyes.

"O-Okay, let us get on our way then!" Naruto said as he shook off his ruffled fur.

"Don't you forget, Thomas," Zev said eyeing me as my brothers and I got outside, "No more doing stuff for me. I have to repay what I owe you."

Despite seeing that as an immature point of view of someone doing favors of charity, I kept that to myself as I nodded and tied my headband on my head.

"Sure. No problem, Zev."

-


	56. Chapter 56

Well, our walk to the Kangaskhan **Storage** was a bit of a silent and awkward one. I mean, how do you respond to when others walk in during a… well, personal family moment like what just happened? It kinda embarrassed us to the point where we were silent all the way down to the**storage place**. Zev didn't care; he walked silently as we all tried to keep **eye contact** away from that.

But as we reached the store, Sasuke finally cleared his throat and said, "Okay, the reason why we're going to the storage is not only are we gonna introduce Thomas to the owners, but we're gonna purchase a few things."

"Oh, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Thomas," Sasuke said as he nodded, "As you know, Auntie Kangaskhan and Uncle Raichu are our legal guardians, so they would want to know about you."

"They're really cool! I can't wait for you to meet them!" Naruto said happily as we approached the storage.

We watched as Auntie Kangaskhan came out of the store with a smile and gasped at seeing Sasuke and Naruto. She laughed with joy as my brothers ran to her and jumped into her arms that held them in a hug. They giggled as her daughter in her pouch laughed too.

"Good morning, Auntie!" Naruto said happily as his tail wagged.

"We're sorry we missed you yesterday," Sasuke apologized as he snuggled.

"It's all right, my little darlings," Auntie Kangaskhan said sweetly, "I'm so happy to see you again. I see you're also here to get something?"

"Yes, but before we do that," Sasuke said, "We have to show you our team so far."

As Auntie Kangaskhan looked at us, she first laid eyes on Zev. Now, I can expect what anyone would thinking (or I should say 'could be') which is how she was gonna react. Probably be rotten to him, yell most likely, maybe even go for that old fashioned way that women deal with teenage hooligans that they don't want in their store; dusty and old **broom** to the face. But surprisingly she smiled at him.

"Oh, Zev, you're joining them too?" She asked sweetly.

"I… yes, ma'am," Zev said as he looked at me with a glare that you know just said 'You are the reason for my torment'.

I grinned sheepishly at him as Auntie Kangaskhan looked at me and smiled. She turned to Sasuke and Naruto.

"And who is this fine young looking man here?" she asked my brothers.

So, I'm just gonna save you all and **skip** to the next part. The reason is because frankly I'm pretty sure a lot of you are getting bored of Sasuke having to continually explain the Monster House Victim alibi we had made up. I mean, it's a clever one, but hearing something over and over again can be a bit repetitive. So, from now on, I'll say something like insert intermission or something when it comes up again. Okay? Okay.

So, anyways, it was then a male Raichu came out of the store and sneaked up against them. He giggled as he slowly raised his arms and then grabbed both Sasuke and Naruto with a playful growl. My brothers laughed as they snuggled into him, causing him to chuckle and snuggle back.

"How are my wonderful boys doing this morning?" He said with a raspy voice and a smile.

"Great, Uncle Raichu!" Naruto cheerfully said as he laughed and snuggled more.

"That's good to see and hear that, boys," he said as he laughed with them.

I watched as Auntie Kangaskhan told him about me. After he said good morning to Zev, he looked over and smirked proudly at me. I could sense an interest to know me more, but I was kinda thrown off by the motive; was it because I'm a Pikachu and usually Raichus have rivalries with them, or was it because I was their new brother?

"Well, hello there, Thomas," he said as he walked over with a smile, "I see that you're now our little youngings' new little brother, I see."

I smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir."

Suddenly, I was pulled into a side-hug by him. I blushed in surprise as I looked up at his face. He grinned at me with a wink as his tail teased mine by stroking it.

"Well, I'm glad that you're onboard, Thomas," he said warmly to me with a wink, "I'm glad that you guys can come to us for your shopping needs and storage."

"So, since you're here, what can we do for you?" Auntie Kangaskhan asked with a smile.

Sasuke turned to her and said politely, "Well, we need a few items for the Rescue Team exams. But we could use some help with the apparel."

"Apparel? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, Thomas, when Rescue Teams are given badges, it's best to wear something to put the badge on. We got so many reports of Rescue Teams losing their badges and criminals using them for their purposes. So, the new rule is that you have to wear like a hat, bandana, headband, scarf, and any clothing item that the badge can clip onto," Sasuke said.

"Way ahead of you!" The daughter in Auntie Kangaskhan's pouch said as she brought over five headbands.

They each had different colors. The following colors: black, green, white, yellow, and red. I noticed that out of all them, there was more than our team value. I looked at Sasuke, and it was like he had read my mind.

"Just in case we lose one, we have more," He explained.

Out of nowhere, Zev grabbed the green headband and started tying it around his neck, saying, "Sorry, but nobody's getting the green one but me."

We all sort of chuckled at him as Sasuke took the black one and Naruto choose red. As they tied it around, Sasuke put the other two in his paw after he folded them. I blinked as I looked up at him.

"Hey, Sasuke! I didn't get one!" I said.

"What are you talking about? You're wearing yours already," he replied back with a smile.

It was then I realized he was referring to my blue headband tied around my head. I blushed embarrassingly as I took it as that this would be my apparel for the badge I would get. Naruto laughed at me as Zev just shook his head disappointingly at me. I guess I really am a bit of a silly guy, after all.

"Hey, we'll be taking those spare headbands now."

We looked towards the Square to see KING and BATSU come over. I blinked in shock as the store owners greeted them with a hello. Both said hello back and then turned to Sasuke.

"Hm? But why do you need these headbands?" Sasuke asked as Auntie Kangaskhan gave him the rest of the items we needed.

"Yeah, they belong to us! Not you!" Naruto said, with a bit of a bark.

"Do we need a reason? Just fork 'em over, Sasuke," King said in what appeared to be a threatening tone of voice, yet Sasuke was not going with it.

"King, just because you're three months older than me, doesn't give you a reason to bully me and be a jerk," my brother replied.

"Yeah, so why don't you go pick on some 3-year-old kid who can't intellectually and physically outwit you?" Zev said, sending to all of us an angry alarm from a Charmeleon.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" King stepped forward to Zev.

The Grovyle folded his arms and said, "You heard me. Beat it."

Now, if any of you are really good with imagination, you'll understand that you could picture a huge blue line of electricity just being connected from both their eyes back and forth at each other. I didn't need a psychology major from Pokémon college to figure out that they're gonna have some cooperation problems down the way. But surprisingly, Batsu had called enough as he walked right in between them, and with a flash, both Zev and King yelped in pain as they staggered back, holding their head.

"Enough," he said as he looked to Sasuke, "The reason we want the headbands is because we're a part of your team, Sasuke."

With that, all of the current members of our team did a double-take as Sasuke became hesitant and said, "What? You're not on our team. I didn't put either of you two down as members."

"We know…. Rrguh…" King groaned and stood by Batsu, "We were assigned to your team by Whiscash Elder and Lucario."

Well, that took me by surprise. Although a bit hesitant and unsure, Sasuke handed the headbands over to Batsu. He took the white one, as King had to settle with yellow, yet he gave a glare to Naruto in an annoyed fashion, which told me he really would've wanted the red one. Before the puppy could push him with a little teasing, Sasuke also gave a glare, making him obey and be quiet. With that, all members of our team (excluding me) tied their headband around their necks.

But in a way, this now made me a bit more uncomfortable with the team. I mean, Batsu clearly does not like me right now; I mean, I've argued with him, with an official Rescue Team, with his father, WITH THE ELDER… and broke the rules in which he clearly stands for. Meanwhile, I got King as a bully who thinks I'm a useless pipsqueak and Zev who thinks he's in debt to me and doesn't get the fact you can do nice things for people without wanting anything back at all. And to make it a bit worse, this happened.

"The reason we're ACTUALLY here is that Whiscash Elder wants us to bring you guys to the pond to talk with him," Batsu said.

We all looked at each other in surprise as I asked, "What does the Elder want with us?"

Batsu shook his head and said, "He didn't tell. All he told us was it was important and that he'll only explain until we all get there."

-


	57. Chapter 57

"I'm glad you all could come and see me," Whiscash Elder said as the six of us came and stood in front of him, "I'm sorry if I had called you out during a free day, but I wanted to **talk** to you six about something that's about you and is big news."

"It's no bother, sir," Sasuke **bowed** and replied, "So, what is it that you want to tell us?"

"Well, usually when we get **registration** papers from applicants for the Rescue Team Exams," Whiscash Elder went on, "We don't see a lot of outstanding teams that catch people's eyes. They're usually little kids to teenagers who just started and thus are not a big issue. However, recently, it has come to my attention that your team, Sasuke, has caught everyone's eye."

We all blinked in surprise as Sasuke asked, "Mine, sir?"

"Never before in the history of the Rescue Team **Exams** have we seen such a team filled with the unusual and unlikely teammates, in which I apologize for surprising you that Lucario and I added King and Batsu," he said, and continued once Sasuke nodded, "But think: A mysterious Pikachu… the best tracker… the strongest rookie… the son of the Legendary Lucario… the younger brother of one of the members from Team ACT… and the pickpocket of the Square… all coming together as one team. That's something that not even I would've expected."

I wasn't expecting it… I mean, when you have team, lesser members mean less troubles to deal with like **personal problems** and cooperation… yet Sasuke had five of us to deal with now. Yet again, there is that famous saying 'There's safety in numbers' yet I can think of at least two or three that I can't count on to have my back if I got in danger. Besides, in reality, that quote doesn't mean you're safe, because there's a greater amount of people to help. It means you have a lesser chance of getting hurt of picked off. The more members you have, the less odds there are at you getting attacked. I'm guessing that phrase was made from a weak coward who was in a group of twenty. But, however, I got off on a serious tangent; let's get back to the story.

"So, one of the reasons that I called you here is to tell you six that a lot of Pokémon have their eyes on you and are expecting you to do big things this year and pass. So, I'm warning you that you will be under a lot of pressure when you take the exams and if you pass, for your whole career," the Elder explained.

"We understand, sir," Sasuke replied, "If we have any problems, we'll bring them up with you. Now, what is the second thing?"

"Well… your registration is not complete," the Elder replied to my brother's surprise, "You have all ready except for a name for your team."

"I know that, sir," Sasuke apologized as he bowed, "It's just I thought it'd be better to think of a name with all my teammates."

"I see. Since you're all here, you might as well come up with a name now," Whiscash Elder said happily.

It was then we all turn to each other and began to think of a name. It wasn't much help that really most of that was **arguing** between King's choice 'Highwind' and Naruto's choice 'Excalibur', which I could've sworn some game had two characters arguing over those names. Sasuke tried to make peace, but because of the tension of the bully and my other brother, his suggestion of "Assistance" was ignored very casually. Add that to Zev and Batsu not giving the slightest amount of interest in the name, it didn't bode very well. I shrugged as the arguing just kept going.

"Why not Highwind!? Excalibur makes no sense! We don't have anybody with a sword in this group!" King said, trying to justify his reason.

"Highwind doesn't fit either; we don't have a bird Pokémon in the group!" Naruto pouted, making King angrier.

"Geez…" I muttered sarcastically, "If people want to think we're the next super team, they're just a bunch of believers…."

Zev suddenly heard me as he caught everyone's attention by asking, "Wait… Thomas, what did you say?"

A bit embarrassed that I had been caught, and afraid of being yelled at, I said softly, "I said that, um… if people think we're the next super team… they're a bunch of believers…"

Suddenly, everyone blinked; not in anger, but in consideration. I was a bit confused at what I had said that Zev started nodding his head and smirking at.

"Believers, eh?" he said as I realized what he meant, "I'd say that's a good name if I ever heard one."

Despite a bit of annoyance that their names weren't chosen, Naruto and King agreed with the rest of the team on that name. I blushed that Believers was chosen, and heck, I didn't even suggest it as a name.

"Then, it's official," Whiscash Elder said, "From now on, your team is Team Believers."

-

Well, after we had our team named, the Elder gave us a slip of notice paper that told us what stages the exam was in. It was then after we said our good-byes to Whiscash Elder, the other three departed from us and my brothers and I went back to Kangaskhan Storage. After about a half-an-hour getting to know the two who would be my "guardians", my brothers led me back to our base as we got ready. It was still the afternoon, but we wanted to just rest up mid-way through our day. We sat on our bed as Sasuke looked at the paper.

"Well, at least we know what kind of parts to expect in the Rescue Team Exams," Sasuke said smiling happily.

"So? Tell us, bro!" Naruto said excitedly as I nodded too with the same excitement.

"Well… the exams are gonna be sectioned into three parts. In order, they are survival exercise, written test, and then it says that the third part is a secret for only those who pass the first two," Sasuke explained.

"W-Wait…" I slowly said as I feared, "D-Did you say… written test?"

"Yeah. What's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

Okay, for those of you who are bums that didn't take the time to read from the beginning of my story (LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO) and just tuned in, I've never gone to the Pokémon School for any type of academics. I've never taken any kind of written test whatsoever, so I got nervous just from that.

"Oh, I get it. You never went to that school back at your home, so you're nervous about the test part, right?" Sasuke asked me.

I nodded as Naruto made me giggle by nuzzling my face as he said, "Don't worry, bro. I'm sure you'll do well on the test."

"It shouldn't be super difficult, and I can't say what the rules are for I don't know them, but I can probably guarantee that they won't be things you don't know," Sasuke comforted me.

"Well, I sure hope so," We heard King's voice say.

The three of us looked towards the entrance to see King, Batsu, and Zev with their stuff walk into our base. I blinked as I was about to ask a question, but Sasuke stood up and smiled.

"Great to have you guys join us," he said.

"Thank you, Sasuke," Batsu said as the other two nodded and all three went to the beds that were attached to the wall I mentioned about when I first was in the base.

"Just to save you asking another question, Thomas," Naruto winked at me and explained, "When members of a team are officially registered in a team, they must live together in the same base. It's the rules."

Yeah, that wasn't gonna make me uncomfortable at all… ugh…

It was bad enough having someone just be ugly at you, then have another being a bully and another grumpy… but now having them as roommates. Yeah, what a way to kill a beautiful day. Meh, it couldn't be that bad, as that thought would later be challenged.

After all were settled in, King turned to Sasuke and asked, "So, I'm guessing you read the paper about the exams?"

"Yes, I did and the three of us know as well," my brother replied with a nod.

"Good," Batsu said as he fixed his bed, "There's rumors going around that this year, a lot of upcoming applicants are strong and that the exams are going to be one challenge that is not to be underestimated."

"Yeah, we heard teams like Bui-Power, Memory, and Lightgale are gonna be in it," Naruto said with a nod.

"If that's the case, we can't falter at all tomorrow," Batsu said, "We must give it our all."

….. Wait… did Batsu….. say tomorrow…..?

"Wait….. when you say tomorrow, does that mean the exams are tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yes," he said as he turned to me.

With a lowered jaw and a slow turning of the head, I glared at my brothers and said, "You didn't tell me the exams are that close coming up!"

Realizing that they made a big mistake and that it would've been probably a better idea to tell me when the exams were happening the day I got to the Pokémon world, Sasuke and Naruto made huge nervous faces as sweat drops went down their heads. The other three turned to them in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me! You mean to tell us neither one of you told your own brother when the exams are?" King snapped at them in anger and disbelief.

Without a proper answer to give, Sasuke facepawed in embarrassment as Naruto shrugged and said, "Um… oops?"

Zev buried his face in one of his hands and said, "Great… not even day one of the exams and already, we're pitted to lose…"

"Okay, okay, so we made a mistake," Sasuke said, giving a bit of hope, "But hey, we didn't know King and Batsu were on our team until thirty minutes ago. We just became a team; mistakes are bound to happen. We'll get by this exam. I promise."

Although I want to agree with it, things were not in our favor however. My relationship with Batsu, King, and Zev weren't that great, not to mention despite me, there were rivalries and tension between different members of the team. Also… I hate having to admit this, but with no experience on written tests and only learning how to fight yesterday…

I fear that the only reason this team could fail… would be me.

-


	58. Chapter 58

Well, if I had to take these exams, I believed that I needed to fresh up my skills… well…. LEARN is more of a better way to say it. I can pretty much agree with anyone, including King, that my victory of Ariados was a complete fluke. There's no way I should've been able to do that by myself. So I realized I needed to try to learn how I did it.

So after the rest of our team moved in, I decided to check into this place in Tiny Woods Sasuke told me about. It's this tiny spot he and Naruto uses to train. I made sure I stayed away from any potential wild Pokémon, so I didn't start a fight. I came close to bumping into a Spearow, but when he turned to see that I was an electric type, he backed off.

So, as I got to a clearing, it showed a tiny field inside the woods, surrounded by trees. It had a little pond and a few huge rocks there that had dents and damage done to it, most likely from my brothers' training. I stretched out as I began to form a thought of how I was going to start to train myself.

Well, so I can fast forward through boring stuff, I practiced my dodging and evasion by envisioning attacks and moving. I found that I had gotten faster from the battle during our mission that I sometimes fell over from how fast and sudden I jumped. I could jump higher and feel more energetic. But now it was time for the real training.

I took a deep breath and decided it was time to practice my electric attacks. But it was hard to try it; the reason I learned it so fast was because Zev was in trouble and needed my help. I tried to envision it, but the feeling just didn't seem the same.

So, what was that technique? Electro Ball… right? So, I decided to practice that. I remember that my anger had helped me form it and thus I lifted my arm and closed my eyes. Channeling my anger and power into my hand, I formed a ball, but it was tiny compared to the one I made. I grunted and began to try to force myself to do it. The ball grew, but my body started to ache painfully.

Then I had gotten an idea; Electro Ball is a projectile, but what if I was able to use it like Naruto's Rasengan from that Manga? Yeah, that sounds cool, doesn't it? Too bad it doesn't work… I found really quick why it wasn't going to work. As I ran towards one of the rocks, the energy in the attack started to ricochet out of my hand and fly into different directions, hitting me and charging my body with negative electricity. Before I could even strike the rock, it exploded and I was sent flying across the field. My body bounced several times as I tried to protect my head.

Suddenly as I got the other end of the field near the pond, I felt myself get caught by two gentle and furry arms. I grunted as I was unable to look up for a bit. I soon felt my face stroked gently with a soft chuckle. I recognized it immediately as Sasuke's voice. He picked me up and hugged me.

"Shh…. It's okay, I'm here now," he said, making me feel safe and content, "You okay? You flew a big distance there."

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I rubbed my head and looked at him, "Wow, it was such a major coincidence you showed up."

"Well, I got to thinking that… well, no offense, but you may not have a clue on how to fight or train, so I followed you immediately after I told you of our secret practice field. The reason Naruto's not here is that he's with the others making sure we have everything we need and to help them better fit into the base," he explained, "So, I'm here to be your mentor."

I blushed at Sasuke's explanation of me being his pupil as I smirked and said, "Thanks… I did an epic fail there…"

"Yeah, Electro Ball mainly is a projectile attack… it takes extreme control and power to use it as a close-range attack without getting hurt, something you don't have yet," Sasuke said, "But right now, we can't focus on your electric attacks."

I blinked as I asked, "What? Why not?"

Sasuke smiled and replied, "Well, Thomas, Electric is your specialty, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that some types barely get hurt by it; in fact, some are immune to it. This means you have to learn some hand-to-hand combat. Now, I'm not talking about that show Naruto and I saw back at your house; you know, those ninja tortoises-"

I didn't mean to be rude, but I chuckled out loud and corrected him, "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

"They both have shells; what's the difference?" Sasuke said with a smirk, causing me to laugh, and then continued, "Anyway, their moves are just for show and entertainment. I mean, sure; it can be cool to have a flashy move, but in close combat where you can get hurt, you have to know real quick and precise moves to protect yourself. That's what we're gonna learn first off."

With that, Sasuke dropped into a fighting stance, causing my eyes to widen and nearly pop out of my sockets. He was gonna fight me right now!?

"W-Whoa, whoa! You're wanting to fight me? But that's not fair, Sasuke; you're tied as the strongest rookie here, and I don't know squat!" I protested.

"Calm down, Thomas," Sasuke said as he smiled, "Don't worry; I'll go easy on you. I'm gonna teach you how to strike somebody. Now, come at me however you like."

I took a DEEP breath as I readied myself. As I braced myself, Sasuke never took his eyes off me or even blinked. I then charged at my brother and then tried a punch. Suddenly, I felt myself get yanked off the ground as Sasuke swiftly threw me over his head. I suddenly found myself going to a one-way trip into the pond. I splashed into the water, only to quickly shoot back up and scream "It's COLD!" Sasuke hid a grin in his paws as he watched me wade out of the pond and glare at him.

"W-whahat?" Sasuke said, trying not to giggle.

"You didn't tell me you were gonna fling me into the pond," I said.

"Hehe, okay, okay. That's my bad; I'm sorry," Sasuke said, getting his giggle out and regaining his composure, "At least, it was better than me throwing you into a rock or tree, right?"

I wanted to say no, but I'd rather be wet than in pain, so I reluctantly nodded.

"See?" Sasuke smiled, "There's a silver lining in anything! Okay, try it again, but this time I'll warn you, I may throw you or take you down. Fair?"

I nodded as I got ready to charge again and he dropped into his stance again. I charged again as I tried another punch, but this time in a jabbing formation. He parried it and threw my fist to the side. I widened my eyes as I felt that rush of adrenaline come into my body. I took my left foot and swung it at him. He raised his right knee and blocked my kick before it reached his stomach. I took a step so that I twirled in a circle and tried to backhand him with the same fist he parried. But as I turned, he ducked and my attack cut air. He then grabbed my arm and forced me down to the ground. Then, with a blink of an eye, I found myself with my right arm behind my back held by Sasuke, who had held it with his left arm and grabbed around my neck with his right. I grabbed his arm with my free arm and tried to struggle, but I eventually gave up; Sasuke had gotten me twice now.

"Sorry, bro, but you left yourself open. Don't turn your back on your enemy that close; they could surprise you when you can't see them," he said as he nuzzled my face.

After a few seconds of enjoying this, he let me go and helped me stand up. I brushed myself off as he folded his arms with a smile.

"Do you get what I did?" he asked.

"Yeah, you predicted what I was going to do and then you countered," I said.

"Correct! Good, Thomas," he nodded and said, "It's a term I like to call 'Telegraphing'."

Now, the term 'Telegraphing' refers to an obvious action that someone can tell you will do. It's a common term found in sports, like basketball. For example, say a player is dribbling the ball down the court. He sees a teammate and he's going to pass. It's then the defensive player can tell he's going to pass it, like if the dribbler takes a long time looking at the person he'll pass to, he dribbles closer, he takes a long motion signaling he's going to pass… you get the idea. Then, that way, the defensive player can intercept the ball and cause a turnover. Well, I found out telegraphing can work the same way in fighting.

"If you can tell what your opponent is going to do, Thomas," Sasuke said, "then you can reverse the move and use the momentum against them. In our case, I could tell when you would strike, so I could block or reverse your attacks. So, Thomas, we're going to do it again, but this time, make sure your attacks aren't readable, okay?"

I nodded as he stretched out a bit and he dropped into his fighting position. He then exhaled and prepared for me to do a better job. Feeling the adrenaline run through my body. I roared with a smirk and charged once more. As I came at him, my strikes became faster and less predictable. Sasuke smiled as I smirked and we clashed. He was able to block and parry my attacks, but he wasn't able to counter my moves, for I had taken every chance he had gotten for a reversal and closed it. I could feel it. I could myself getting stronger. And to think this was only close-range combat! I couldn't wait to learn electric attacks! I now couldn't wait for these exams!

-


	59. Chapter 59

After a few rounds, I… ended up still on my butt. I did a whole lot better at fighting and being able to not be predictable, but Sasuke clearly had more experience in fighting than I did. We had practiced for a few hours and that had helped me significantly read opponent's moves**and learn** how to fight with an amazing style. I slowly gasped from the pain as I looked at Sasuke walk over to me with a loving smile. He slowly sat down next to me and saw a cut on my face that had resulted from me skidding across the ground. He closed his eyes and licked it repeatedly. This caused me to end up like putty in his arms as I went limp in his arms.

"Hehe, you like it when I snuggle you like this, don't you, Thomas?" he said as he licked more.

"I… can't help it, bro… this feels so good…" I barely managed to say.

I didn't know why, but I just melted into limpness whenever Sasuke or Naruto snuggled or licked me. I had guessed maybe that it was just a normal Pokémon **response** to be petted like that. But I believe now that it was the love for my brothers that made me act like that. I felt so safe and calm when I was with them, and when they held me, I was so happy.

With the final lick, Sasuke had made my cut feel better and sat next to me. He looked at me and smiled as he rubbed my back.

"There," he said as he grinned, "That feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks," I grinned and said with a big nod.

"Geez, Thomas, you're something else. Only two hours and you've got a good grasp on this fighting thing. It's been one of the toughest spars I've been in," he said with a wink.

I blinked as a streak of crimson went across my face. I was one of the toughest? But I didn't feel like it. Maybe he was sweet-talking me, trying to butter me up to how much I **needed** to keep going. Yet, the look in Sasuke's eyes was so sincere and true. I cracked a tiny embarrassed giggle as he stroked my back with his tails.

"You really are getting stronger, Thomas. I'm gonna do what I can to make you even stronger than what you are, okay?" he said, and as I nodded, he got up and continued, "So, why don't we practice hand-to-hand one more time then we can **start** with your **electrical** attacks?"

"Okay," I answered as I jumped up.

He nodded to me as he dropped into his stance and me into mine. He gave a gentle smile as he took a step forward.

"This time, Thomas, I'm using my full speed and I'm not holding back. If you wanna quit, let me know; I don't wanna hurt you too bad," Sasuke said.

I nodded as he suddenly raised his head and fired a Water Gun over his head, thus causing it to rain down on him. Suddenly, I recalled the ability Buizels have called Swift Swim, which allows the Pokémon with that ability to gain speed if they get wet or if it's raining. It was then as I tried to brace myself, Sasuke immediately appeared near my right and hit my shoulders. I winced as I was thrown off a bit and actually got turned around by it. As I tried to regain my balance, I felt a tail smash into my chest that sent me on my back. Grunting as I struggled to get to my feet, I opened my eyes and suddenly I could see Sasuke… moving in slow-motion…

What happened…? Only a few seconds ago, I could barely read Sasuke's movements, but now I could read him perfectly. I could see him slowly come closer to me as I realized all I had to do was align my fist where he was going to be. I waited for him to get close and as his face got closer, I put my fist there.

Sasuke ran into it and widened his eyes at the shock of how fast I got him. He grunted as I decked his cheek and sent him rolling back. After a few minutes of recovering on his feet, he looked up with a cheerful grin and laughed excitedly.

"YES! Thomas, you did it!" he said as he jumped up on his feet, "You're finally getting your Pokémon senses!"

"W-What? I am?" I said confusedly.

"Yeah!" Sasuke explained, "You see, when Pokémon from this world are fighting, their senses increase so much, everything slows down in slow motion so you can fight, when in reality you're fast as lightning! Plus, Electric, Psychic, and Fighting types have the best senses for that! Thomas, you're improving as we speak!"

I grinned in excitement as I suddenly felt this reaction in my body and my mind suddenly envisioned an Electro Ball attack. I gritted my teeth as I slowly began to form an Electro Ball, much to my brother's excitement.

"I… I don't believe it! Thomas, you figured out how to do your electric attacks by focusing during this sense adrenaline and doing them! Thomas…. I…. I'm so proud, you don't have any idea how much! All right, bro, you come at me with everything you got!" Sasuke said, nearly tearing.

So, for the next half-an-hour, we spent fighting each other with our full strength (yet I think Sasuke might've held back sometimes). I tried not to hurt Sasuke so much, since electric attacks are one of his weaknesses. I did hit him a couple times with my newly learned Thunderpunch, but I backed off as he tried to shake it off and continue. And while I'm at it, lemme tell you something; those Aqua Jet and Sonicboom attacks KILL like a son of a gun! Man, I thought I had experienced hell back when Mr. Pepperridge's Swampert blasted me with Hyper Beam. But it was cool fighting Sasuke; I could see electricity around my body as I dodged attacks, watch how cool water looked like when it was shaped into an attack, and how both look so beautiful when they mix.

Soon at the end, both of us were exhausted and extremely weak. I was laying face down as I felt very faint. I suddenly heard a grunt and looked to see Sasuke smiling at me as he crawled over to where I was. I watched his soft arms slowly wrap around me and pull me close to him. He grunted from his sore body rubbing against mine as he licked my forehead.

"Thomas… I…. I just…" Sasuke struggled to say as he just gave up speaking and kept licking my forehead.

I knew what he meant as he slowly snuggled me and made sure he didn't rub any tender spots that had been hit. I smiled as I slowly heard the sound of someone approaching. Both of us looked to see Naruto sitting wide-eyed at us. I blushed in embarrassment as he started to grin and yelped in excitement. He then took off full force at us and ran towards us, then running in circles as he reached us. Sasuke chuckled as I watched with a smile.

"THOMAS! THAT WAS SUPER COOL!" he said as his tail wagged violently, "YOU WERE LIKE WOOSH, AND THEN YOU WERE LIKE BZZT!"

I laughed as he panted with his tongue out and Sasuke said, "He's learned how to fight, Naruto. Only in a matter of hours."

"Is that sort of a bad thing?" I asked.

"Technically, that's not possible for a Pokémon normally," Sasuke explained, "However, you're a human, so maybe the powers are easier to control and learn for you. And two, we got the alibi that you already knew how to fight, and just needed to be reminded."

"No matter what it is, you know how to fight, bro!" Naruto said excitedly and proudly, "Now, you got nothing to worry about for the exams tomorrow!"

"Just because he knows how to fight, doesn't mean the exams will be easy, Naruto," we heard Batsu's voice say behind us.

We turned to see Batsu come into the training field and fold his arms once he stood with us. We all were a bit surprised to see him here. I mean, wasn't this supposed to be a private field only known to us brothers?

"Batsu, how did you find this area?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, as I was unpacking, I came across a piece of paper on the ground that was written by Naruto. It seemed to be directions to this place," Batsu said (as Sasuke gave a nervous-giggling Naruto a glare), "But anyways, I came to ask you something, Sasuke."

"Yes, what is it?" my brother asked.

"Well, I am glad Thomas has learned to fight again," Batsu replied (as he gave me a look that made me feel he was getting suspicious), "but you know that knowing how to fight doesn't give you victory in the exams. Sasuke; you, Naruto, and I all know that these exams are so difficult, it can drive candidates to the brink of frustrated tears. Only the elite teams pass the exams."

"I know that," Sasuke nodded, as I blinked at how difficult Batsu was making this to be, "So, what is your point?"

"I think we need to have a meeting about how our team is going to be formatted," Batsu said with a smile, "and since my father has given me secret details about the exams this year, I feel that this will be worth the talk."

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	60. Chapter 60

"All right, now that we are all here," Batsu said to us, the whole team after all together gathered in our base, "We can begin. Now, as you all know, the Rescue Team Exams are going in order by survival exercise, **written test**, and the ending of the exams. But because you know of who my father is, I happened to be told about the **specific details** of the Exams."

"You serious about this, man?" Zev said, raising an eyebrow and being a bit skeptical as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"My father would not lie about this, and especially not to me, Zev," the Riolu looked him in the eye and said, "He said that we should know since that we're one of the looked at teams this year, he decided to give us the details of what each stage has, except the last one."

"What, even your dad doesn't know about the last stage?" Naruto said, with his eyes widening.

"Yes," Batsu replied, "I cannot believe it either, but Whiscash Elder and those who are organizing the whole Exams this year want to keep it a secret. But I do know about the first two stages."

"Well, for crying out loud, just tell us already," King said impatiently, "I'm not gonna live forever, dude."

"Very well," Batsu sighed, a bit tired of King's consistent annoying impatience, "Well, the first stage actually is happening right in the Pokémon Square. Surprisingly, it's a crystal hunt."

"A… crystal hunt…? As in we search for REAL crystals?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Batsu nodded to me and said, "Apparently, each team starts out with a set of crystals, and each color represent a different amount of points. There will be crystals hidden out all around the Square. The object of the stage is to gather as many as you can before the time limit finishes. It's being proctored by Arcanine of Team Tactics."

"Oh, wow! Tactics' Arcanine is gonna be in charge of this!" Naruto panted happily, **signaling** to me that Arcanine was probably someone he looked up to.

"Tch, a simple treasure hunt? A kid's game? Seriously, I'm disappointed; that's not a challenge at all," King scoffed at the idea, folding his arms, closing his eyes, and turning his head away.

"Actually, that's not entirely true, King," the Riolu said, cutting him off, "The rules state that other teams can attack each other to get their crystals. So that means we can fight if **needed**."

There was an evil sparkle in the Charmeleon's eyes as he grinned, showing his sharp teeth as the pupil became smaller, showing he was getting a bit feral.

"Oh, yeah, now I'm excited for these exams!" he said as he grinned wider.

Okay, I gotta say some things off my chest. Although I respect what the Rescue Team Exams stand for, really? Crystal Hunting? A mock off of a scavenger **Easter egg** hunt was what the Exams were gonna determine which of the best candidates become official teams? I mean, I understand the morals that it taught in doing it, but I still don't kinda get it now that I'm recalling it.

And I hated how King acted during this time of being a Pokémon. I mean, what was his problem? He always acted angry and tough for some reason, wanting to prove himself for some reason. And his grin always rubbed me the wrong way when he did it in a mean or evil fashion. It's like the kind of bad guy vibe you get when someone smiles that way that makes you wanna smack them in the face. I just didn't like King… well, at that point anyway. Of course, even if I smacked King, I'd never live another day… or for a couple hours.

"Well, then we just need to stick together," Sasuke said, gaining all of our attention, "As long as we don't split up, we've got nothing to worry about. Plus, we got Zev, THE Pickpocket of Pokémon Square. With his expertise on stealing, we got a major advantage."

Zev smirked as he chuckled and nodded about it. That was indeed true. What better advice doesn't anyone have than a thief himself? We watched as Batsu nodded to this and slowly continue.

He then cleared his throat and said, "Now the next one is a written test. Whatever teams pass through the first stage will be brought to the Everfountain Falls Building and put in a class room together. All will then complete a written test that has certain rules that will be explained by the second proctor, Tony."

"Tony? You mean the blue-fire Typhlosion that is in charge of the Rescue Team missions?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, the very same," Batsu said.

Wow, a Typhlosion with blue flames? That I had to see. But that place Batsu mentioned. I didn't remember hearing about that when Sasuke and Naruto were taking me around here for the first time.

"Everfountain Falls?" I asked.

"You know that waterfall behind Whiscash Pond?" Sasuke said to me, "Near the river before the falls, there's a couple more buildings. That's where we'll be heading if we continue."

"So… Is this test like normal tests? Just briefly our knowledge about Pokémon and rescue missions?" Naruto asked.

Batsu shrugged modestly as he replied, "That is another thing. My father refused to tell me what the contents of the test would be about. I honor that, because it would be technically cheating. It means we're gonna get plenty of rest for this test."

Sasuke nodded and said, "Agreed. All right, everybody, we keep this info to ourselves so we can have an edge and prepare for this. Thomas, Naruto, I wanna speak with you alone for a bit. Everyone dismissed."

-

My brothers and I gathered back to the special spot in Tiny Woods where we trained. We all sat down next to each other in a circle as Sasuke looked at me.

"Okay, the reason why I wanted to talk to you to as brothers is that no offense, Thomas, but with you on the team, the written test is gonna be a problem," Sasuke told me the truth, but trying to soften the blow.

I felt a bit embarrassed as I muttered, "Geez, now I know why arguing with Mr. Pepperridge for so long can now bite me in the butt in the future…"

I lowered my head in shame as Naruto added, "We're not trying to hurt you, Thomas, but if you're really telling the truth about not going to Pokéschool or ever taking an exam, then we're gonna have a bit of an issue and that could fail our chances of passing."

"Naruto! That's really not necessary and too harsh!" Sasuke scolded.

"Brother, there's no other way to say it!" the Poochyena defended himself, "It's the truth; I don't like being mean, but it's the truth!"

Sasuke sighed and nodded, "No, no, you're right. Thomas, I want you to look at me."

I raised my head as he looked at me and asked, "I want you to be perfectly honest with me. You have NEVER taken any kind of test or exam at all in your life?"

I slowly shook my head, "No, not at all, Sasuke."

"YOU WHAT?!" we heard King's voice roar behind us, as we whirled around to see that he, Zev, and Batsu came walking towards us.

King kept starting wide-eyed and angry at me as I groaned. Again, here we go…

Naruto let out a frustrated sigh and said, "Okay, guys? What part of 'Thomas, Naruto, I wanna speak with you ALONE' do you NOT understand?"

"Our apologies," Batsu nodded, "but we've been getting a bit interested in Thomas and we wanted to know what you three talk about. We just got here to the part where Thomas told you he's never taken a test."

Called it.

"So, basically, you're saying you guys are spying on us?" I asked.

"Batsu, I'm kinda surprised and angry now," Sasuke said, standing up, "You guys disobeyed me in wanting to talk to my brothers alone. How can I trust you to obey my orders as the leader of Team Believers if you can't even respect what I want now, before we even take the exam?"

"Thomas, are you freaking serious? You've never taken a test!?" King roared at me, ignoring my brother.

"…N-No, I haven't…" I said as I looked away.

"What the heck is wrong with you!? Why did you wait this long to tell us about this?" he demanded me to answer.

"King, it's all right," Sasuke tried to say.

"No, it's NOT all right, Sasuke!" King yelled, "If he's never taken a test, then he's gonna ruin our chances of passing! If we keep him on the team, he's gonna fail!"

I lowered my head as he closed my eyes. I literally started to feel like crying. Good gosh, King was right. I was the highest chance of failing on this team. I started to lose confidence as I began to feel like crying more.

"King, if I recall, you've never taken a test either," I heard Batsu said.

….What? Was Batsu telling the truth? You mean to tell me King was gutting me like a Magikarp out of water for not taking an exam, yet he's NEVER DONE A TEST EITHER? I opened my eyes to see him immediately pale up in embarrassment and slowly look down with wide eyes. Zev scoffed and folded his arms.

"And King, news flash; I've never taken a test either. You honestly think a thief could have a chance to sit down and take a test?" he said, raising an eye at King, who slowly went completely silent.

I slowly got extremely angry at King as both Naruto and I growled at him. We both stood up and literally bared our teeth at him.

"What the heck is your problem, King!? Why do you always pick on me!?" I shouted.

"You try to belittle Thomas for not taking a test, when you're guilty of the same thing!? What gives you the right to do that to my brother!?" Naruto growled.

Suddenly, the both of us felt Sasuke's paws gently pet us, instantly calming us. We looked up to Sasuke, who had a calm look on his face, as he walked to King.

"Let me handle this," he said.

With that, he walked over slowly and literally stood right in King's face. The Charmeleon looked at him with guiltiness as Batsu and Zev moved out of the way, just in case for the worst. I hoped Sasuke wouldn't hit him, but when it comes to someway hurting me…

"King, I'm speaking to you not as Thomas' brother, but as the leader of this team," Sasuke said gently yet sternly, "You need to stop degrading Thomas and start treating him with respect. Picking on him and pointing out his flaws doesn't make you tough or cool; it makes you look like a jerk. And from what Batsu just stated, you should focus on YOUR OWN flaws before targeting someone else's."

After taking a little sigh, Sasuke continued, "Whether you like it or not, my brother is a part of your team now. And this goes to all of you," he looked at all of us, "A team functions with trust and teamwork. There is no 'I' or 'star player' in a team. We all function together. If one of us doesn't trust another member, then we're NEVER GOING TO PASS THE EXAMS. Now is the time to lose all negative feelings about each other and start anew. We're Team Believers; so let's start making them believe we are a team and give others hope through our actions."

I smiled as I felt empowered by Sasuke's speech. Something about how he said it made everyone feel the same way and agree. I felt lucky how he was my brother and the leader of this team. Naruto snuggled against my side, making me smile. King slowly nodded and took a deep breath.

"Y-You're right. It was stupid of me to do that. I'm sorry," he apologized.

"But now that makes me even more worried for the exams," the Buizel said, looking at him, Zev, and me, "because now, HALF of our team has never taken a test, and that makes me worried about how well or poor you three will do in the second stage."

As the three of us looked away in embarrassment, Batsu asked with a curious look, "So, what do we do now, Sasuke?"

"There's only one thing we can do. Naruto, go get our study books from Auntie Kangaskhan's storage," Sasuke said to my brother as he nodded, "Zev, King, Thomas; all three of you report back to the base immediately. You're doing some studying."

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	61. Chapter 61

"Rgggh, I hate **studying**, Sasuke," I said, being muffled by the pages of the book as my face was buried in the book.

We were all back in the base, as King, Zev, and I were quote on quote "hitting the books", studying for the written part of the exams. Sasuke had pulled out tons of books from where he and Naruto studied to be a Rescue Team and gave them to us. The three of us sat in a circle around a table Sasuke had brought in for us. As I said, my face was shoved in the book I had been studying about field terrains in battling. Frankly, I wanted to stop studying and just go to bed since it was late in the night, but now, I can understand Sasuke's point that I **needed**to suck it up, understand that I needed to do this, and **continue** on through. However, I was not thrilled about it. Zev and King also understood my pain.

Sasuke sighed as he looked up from his teacher's guide book and looked at me.

"Sorry, Thomas, but we need to prepare for this exam or we fail and take it next year. And I for one am not gonna disappoint Whiscash Elder and the people looking at us down by failing," he said, trying to guilt-trip me.

I groaned and nodded as I yawned. You ever get that feeling where you are so tired and sleepy, you feel sort of cold? And the drool in your mouth either feels extremely cold and weird or your mouth has the aftertaste of whatever drink you had last? Well, I felt that and I hated the feeling, especially at night, and I was feeling it right then.

"Oh, Sasuke, come on…" King said, having a face of fatigue yet annoyance, "You've been drilling us into the ground with these notes since 2:30… can't we take a break and carry on in the morning?"

I looked at him and realized what I saw was a teenager with the average studying disability. And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about, especially if you're in school or college. The day that you know an exam is coming, you decide to wait to **study** every day it comes close. It finally comes down to the day BEFORE the exam. You go 'Oh, crap' and then for the last night, cram for the exam, hoping the next day you will do good.

Well, that was King's face. The eyes had gotten smaller, showing he was annoyed. His eyebrows lowered, his tone of voice and attitude was negative, and the slumping of the shoulders looked exhausting. His head was held in one of his hands and the other held the book he had open. I then looked at Zev to see if he had the same teenage feeling. He did, but was not as aggressive and rude as King. He was in perfect**form** for sitting, up straight and with a good look on his face. However, his eyes struggled to stay open and he held the book lightly and so gently, he nearly dropped it. And I was not going to even defend myself, cause I probably looked like a sleep-deprived maniac hiding behind a pleasant personality… (you all better say I'm pleasant, cause I'm not fooling about the maniac right now. I'll bust you up…)

"King, do you want to be a Rescue Team or not?" Sasuke asked.

King started to say, "Well, yeah, but-"

"No buts. If you want this badly, you need to make sacrifices in order to get this opportunity," my brother said to his irritation, "Now, let me ask the question again; The following team consisting of a Flaafy, Wartortle, and Geodude are doing a mission in a water terrain place, trying to rescue a hostage who is a Fire-type. They come across the hostage being tied up on a platform that slowly sinks. This requires someone to run over a stone path over a pond to get to the hostage. During the mission, the Flaafy gets shocked by an enemy and becomes confused. This means he can attack anywhere at any time. The team has no more items. What should the team do?"

"Beats me," I said, really confused.

"They all blow up and let me sleep?" King asked, being sarcastic and irritating.

Sasuke gave us a bit of a "teacher is getting angry" look upon his face as then we were surprised at Zev giving the correct answer.

"What the team should do is send the Wartortle after the hostage. He can swim the fastest in the water and grab the hostage before he falls into the water. The Geodude should help battle the enemy with the confused Flaafy, because it's a Rock-type and they don't get hurt by Electric attacks. This will make it easier to fight off the enemy and buy time for the Wartortle's fast rescue swimming," he said.

Sasuke smiled and nodded, "Great job, Zev. That's correct."

King grumbled as he looked at Zev out of the corner of his eyes, "I knew that too."

"Yeah, you clearly showed you know it."

King and I turned to hear Naruto say it with a smirk on his face. He was lying on the bed my brothers and I sleep on. He was on his side, with his eyes closed and smirking. Batsu was resting on his back on his bed on the wall, probably ignoring us altogether for our stupid comments.

King growled at my brother and said, "Shut up before I show you that I know how to beat somebody to a pulp."

Naruto briefly giggled as Sasuke got the Charmeleon's attention, "Focus, you guys. Next ques- King, look to your right."

We all turned to King's right as he looked there. I was surprised to see a little Charmander who was tinted more red than orange sitting next to him. He was fairly young, looking like he was a little child. The Charmander had a cute smile and sparkle in his eyes as he turned to King.

"Brother! I finally found you!" he celebrated.

King chuckled and smiled, "Yeah, you did, Pyro."

So, this little guy was King and the Charizard from Team A.C.T's little brother. Pyro jumped up on the table and started to run in a circle on it, knocking a few books down and causing Sasuke and Zev to groan under their breath. They probably knew the little guy and couldn't take his wired up energy at this time of the day. I watched with a smile, remembering how I used to act like that when I was younger. Pyro then jumped into King's lap, taking him by surprise.

"Bro, whatcha doing?" he said happily as his little tail wagged.

"Ahh, I'm studying for that big exam tomorrow. You know, the one I've been focusing on for a while?" King answered.

"Psshh… you mean you're studying with books?" the Charmander said, snatching the book he had out of his grip and then flinging out away with an innocent smile, "Who needs them?"

The book (which was HARD-cover and BIG) smacked right into Naruto's head. The Poochyena yelped in surprise as he scrambled onto his feet in shock. King slightly grinned, feeling the revenge paid back to my brother. Batsu remained in the same position; I know he was awake though, cause he opened his eyes briefly when Pyro came into the base and closed them again.

"Come on, bro; play with me!" Pyro said happily, grinning.

"Pyro, you know I would love to play with you, but you know I gotta study for this stupid thing… as much as I don't want to right NOW," King said, glaring at Sasuke, who didn't waver in fear whatsoever.

"But, King!" Pyro whined, using the "about-to-cry" voice and looking at him, "You've not played with me for several days! I wanna play!"

It was then he started to flail on King in his lap and start slapping him. This was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life. There was King, sitting there with an emotionless yet exhausted scowl on his face, just taking all these slaps and watching his brother flail in his lap. Pyro looked silly to me, as I began to chuckle with Zev and Sasuke.

"All right… All right… Pyro, I'll play with you. Sorry, Sasuke, but my brother needs me," King said looking at Sasuke.

With that sentence and the pressure of the cute look from King's adorable brother, Sasuke buckled and nodded, "Okay, we'll break for the night. But we're picking up tomorrow morning early."

Pyro cheered, "Yay! I get to play with my brother! Yay!"

He then started to run around the base happily, chanted and cheering about playing with King. I closed my eyes and smiled. It made me happy, yet a bit sad. I never had a brother before Sasuke and Naruto came to the island. I was an only child who had to look forward to hanging out with my friends back at the schoolyard at lunch. So, I was happy for King and Pyro to have each other and their older brother. As I was thinking it, I opened them to suddenly see the little guy RIGHT in my face. I jerked back suddenly as Zev moved a bit away.

"Oooooh, who are you? I've never seen you before, Pikachu!" Pyro said intrigued.

Sasuke smiled, "Oh, Pyro, meet Naruto and my little brother, Thomas. Thomas, this is King's little brother, Pyro."

I smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Pyro."

But as I said that, I lost my smile at the fact that the Charmander was staring into my eyes funnily. He seemed to be lost in my gaze and it looked also to me like he was confused about me. I blinked a bit and backed my head up a bit more.

"What's wrong?" I asked, getting a bit uncomfortable.

"You… you're different," he said, "Your eyes have more of a certain spark in them that I've never seen in a Pikachu before…"

I suddenly felt nervous. Sasuke and Naruto immediately looked up with the same emotion. Was he able to see that I was a human? Luckily, this fear was erased by King, who had gotten up and walked to the door.

"Hey, if you don't stop glaring at the pipsqueak and come with me, I ain't gonna play with you at all," he said.

Pyro immediately widened his eyes, jumped off the table, and ran to King's side. I breathed a breath of relief as Sasuke and Naruto relaxed too. Wow, that was too close, and luckily Zev and Batsu were either too tired or too uninterested to care at the moment. I then saw Pyro wave to all of us.

"Bye, Buizel! Bye, cute puppy! Bye, gecko! Bye, Lucario's son! Bye, pipsqueak!" he said good-bye to all of us.

Yes, he called me what King calls me; a pipsqueak. I lowered my head with a sigh of tiredness and King grinned at his brother, proud of what he called me and the others. He nodded to Sasuke, signaling he would be back later to sleep. As both walked out, Sasuke and Zev put the table to the side of the base and put the books neatly in piles on the table. My brother wrote a note, telling King to lock up once he got back, and taped it to the outside of the door. Soon, all of us got into bed as Naruto and Sasuke happily snuggled me when I got into the bed and was in the middle.

"Well, this is it, Thomas," Sasuke whispered to me, "Tomorrow is the big day."

"Yeah, but I can't help but feel anxious," I whispered back.

I grinned as I felt a nuzzle on my neck from Naruto and he whispered, "Don't worry, brother. We'll be right beside you."

They then hugged me tightly and spoke the words again.

"We love you, Thomas," Naruto said.

"We love you so much," Sasuke said.

I smiled as I snuggled them back and said, "I love you guys too."

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	62. Chapter 62

The next series of events were things that were hard for me to explain. For some reason, during my sleep, I felt the air get a bit cooler and was able to **hear** the sound of waves coming onto the shore. It was still dark and night time, but last I checked, our base was on the west side of the square, meaning furthest away from the beach there. I also felt colder for some reason. Why was the blanket not giving proper protection from the cold weather? I was literally freezing in my sleep. Well, right then, it was not important enough for me ot wake up and care, so I drifted back to sleep on the sand.

...

SAND!?

I immediately opened my eyes and looked at where I was lying. It was sand on a beach away from the base. And I could tell I was not with my brothers or the rest of the team, since I was laying on my left side. If I were still in the base, Naruto would have been right in front of me. I immediately sat up and looked out at the ocean. I blinked to realize that somehow I was on the shoreline of some beach area. And that's where the weirdest thing happened. When I looked down, my body... WAS HUMAN AGAIN.

I gasped and looked at my **hands** and my legs: EVERYWHERE. It was the original me with the same clothes I had on that I described for you all at the beginning of this story. I even felt EVERYWHERE to see if I was fully changed and I was. I blinked again and took a deep sad breath.

"Does... Does this mean everything was a dream?" I said, as I shook my head and got up.

Feeling depressed and betrayed that I had two of the best brothers turning out to be a fantasy, I shoved my hands into my pockets. But it was then feeling something in my pocket that snapped me out of my mood and pulled it out. I looked and it was something that gave me hope that this was the dream itself.

"The Rescue Team badge!" I said happily.

Wow, I was worried for a minute there. So, it wasn't fake after all. But if that's the case, why was I human again and how come I was on a beach somewhere? It was then I decided to look around to determine where I was. Wait a minute... a huge boulder-like rock on the left... a bunch of woods behind me... and the peaceful air around it...

It couldn't be... yet it was...

I was back on the alcove of Kilyla City, my home!

"This is crazy... how did I get back here...?" I said aloud to myself, "Am I here because I need to be here for some **reason**?"

Many ideas floated around in my head, but all of them revolved around Jirachi who had the power to send me to the Pokémon world. Was I here because I forgot something? Was my time up there? Did I have to **complete** something that I need to do here? So many questions floated through my head about this, but a certain one popped into my head that made me pale up. I felt ill as my face sort of groaned without noise. That question was:

Did I have to go through that horrible changing process again? ... nnnnnghhh...

For those of you who don't like to read a good story from the beginning (and you know who you are), chapter 31 described how I changed into a Pikachu, and it hurt like hell. Bones breaking, choking was involved, just absolutely hell. So, I prayed that I wouldn't go through it again. I mean, I will in order to be with my brothers, but not again if I don't have to.

I looked around and there didn't seem to be boats, people, or anything to give me a clue on why I was there. But nothing seemed to give a hint of anything to note why I was here again. Suddenly, an idea came to me.

"Maybe if I go back to my house, I can talk to Old Man Fellows and figure this out," I thought.

Now, at the time, I forgot that Old Man Fellows didn't know I was a Pikachu or that I had gone to a different world in the future. All he knew was that I had left the island to escape Mr. Pepperridge's false information against me and using the police to try to get Sasuke and Naruto away from me. Yeah, remember all this? Do you guys remember how long ago that was? If not, go ahead and read back. If not, you're either new or you have a bad memory.

So, I decided him, my friends Tucker, Jocinda, and Kaname or the trainers that visited from the main regions could help me figure what was going on. But just as I got to the little path that would take you back to my house, I rammed into something. It was invisible, but it sparkled everytime I touched it. It was some sort of a barrier wall, and it was unbreakable, after I tried pushing and hitting it. Shaking my injured right hand off, I folded my arms and closed my eyes.

"So, I can't leave the alcove...," I thought to myself, "Does that mean I'm supposed to do something here...?"

Just as I opened my eyes, I suddenly heard approaching footsteps to my left. I turned to see a human figure running towards my direction. What was weird about it was that the human figure was completely pitch black, not from his skin or the light, but everything about him was indescribable. He kept running towards me, but by the way he was running, it wasn't that he was coming after me, but fleeing from something. The figure passed me and ran through the trees back to the city, some place I couldn't go back to. I soon heard some strange noise come over past the boulder and even further past the clearing to the main beach.

But as I started to make my way towards the area to investigate why such a human figure would be running from there, the sky suddenly began to brighten. Yet, it wasn't like a normal day. It began to brighten as if something was forcing me out of this area.

"Thomas..." I heard a familiar voice say out of nowhere.

Suddenly, the whole island disappeared at the sudden moment when I realized this was another dream. I slowly smiled as I closed my eyes and then feel asleep again. But that would not stop my wondering.

-

"Thomas, time to wake up, little brother."

I heard a calm and gentle voice talk over me as I moaned a bit in my light sleep. Turning over, the voice giggled and I could feel a body lay next to me from the body heat. Then, I felt a cold nose slowly touch my cheek and then a warm wet tongue soon licked my face. It felt good, but it started to wake me up. It kept licking my face until I finally stopped sleeping and opened my eyes. I was back in the team base again and my body was a Pikachu again. Thank God that was a dream. I didn't have to go through torment to change again.

I heard another little giggle as the tongue licked me again. I smiled and turned to see Naruto smiling at me, laying by my left side. He wagged his tail and kissed my cheek.

"Morning, little brother," he said softly, "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yeah, I did. Thanks, bro," I said groggy as I rubbed my eyes and tried to stop being drowzy.

I noticed once I cleared my eyes that Naruto and I were the only ones in the base. Everyone else was gone.

"Um, bro, where's Sasuke and the others?" I asked.

"Did you forget? Today's the Rescue Team Exams," Naruto said cheerfully.

Suddenly, I sprung into action with that sickening feeling. People in college and school know exactly what I mean. It's the feeling you get when you just wake up from sleeping and then you remember or find out that something is due today in class and you scramble to get ready. Don't take my word for it. Trust Tucker. He always went through that all the time at Pokéschool.

I looked at him as I felt pale and said, "Oh, no! Are we late? Did we screw up the chanced to get in this year?"

"Nope, not at all. You see, you, King, and Zev slept in later, because Sasuke decided to let you guys get rest instead of spending your morning in study books. He said you could get a bit more sleep and I stayed to make sure you made it on time. We got ten minutes to get over there. You ready?" He said happily, wagging his tail.

Tightening my headband on my head, I nodded and replied, "Yes, let's roll!"

Running outside as fast as we could, Naruto and I quickly made our way to the Exams. We quickly began to run to the area we needed to go to as Naruto looked at me.

"So, Thomas," he said, "I really wanted to talk to you about this whole thing. I'm really worried about you taking this with us."

"I know, I know," I said, sighing a bit, "It's because I haven't taken a test before, right?"

"No, that's not it," Naruto said, taking me a bit off guard, "It's just that the Rescue Team Exams aren't that easy, brother. A lot of teams have failed and given up being official teams. Even A.C.T and the other four important teams when they started had problems before."

"So, you're worried I might buckle under the pressure?" I asked.

"A little bit," Naruto said, "I know Sasuke told me not to worry but... Thomas, I really love you. Ever since the Hyper Beam incident, I've sworn to protect you. I don't want you to get hurt or be crushed by these exams."

He then looked at me and said with a happy grin, "Which is why if you ever feel it's getting too tough for you, if anything starts to feel too much, I want you lean on me and get behind me. I'll protect you from anything."

I smiled and nodded, "Okay, Naruto, and I promise I'll do my best, regardless of your promise."

As he nodded, we were turning the corner to go to the bridge. But before we got there, I didn't see where I was going really or how fast I was running. I turned and ran right as I saw someone come right at me walking. I gasped and hit the Pokémon square (pun intended) on in the face. I went headfirst on the ground and then rolled as I grunted. Naruto gasped and was immediately by my side.

"Thomas! Are you all right?" he said as he carefully took his muzzle and began helping me up.

"Y-Yeah, I think so..." I said, rubbing my head.

"What was the meaning of that?!" we heard.

I opened my eyes to see that the Pokémon I ran into was... a small Articuno! Wow! Those Pokémon are legendary at my world! I gasped as she was a small thing though, about as tall as King was. She was not happy about what had happened.

"I-I am terribly sorry!" I apologized immediately, rushing over to her, "It was my fault."

"You're darn right, it WAS your fault!" She snapped at me, causing me to back up in a bit of fear (since I didn't want to experience the wrath of a legendary Pokémon).

"Oh, please don't get mad," Naruto said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Oh, don't tell me that!" She said, obviously too angry to listen, "That's it! I want you boys both at my house, pronto! You are going to learn respect, young men!"

"W-What?" I said stunned at the fact she was CLEARLY overreacting.

"We don't have time for that! We have to meet our friends!" Naruto pleaded.

"I don't care!" the Articuno said, "I'm going to teach you a le-"

"Now, honey, I think you're getting a little too angry. After all, he did say he was sorry."

We heard a voice **start** to come out of the woods, which revealed to be a Blaziken talking. There was three factors that made him different then most regular Blaziken. First, he had a belly, signaling he was a bit beefy. Second, he wore these wrestling tights you see professional wrestlers wear on TV. But the most crucial factor was that he was blind, yet it looked like he could see where he was going.

"But these boys ran right into me without looking where they were going!" the Articuno protested.

"I know, but I'm sure they have a good reason," the Blaziken said, and then turning to us, "Let me introduce the two of us. My name is Elek, and this is my wife Arty."

As Arty ruffled her feathers with a snort at us, Naruto introduced us, "My name is Naruto, and this is my little brother Thomas."

"Hello, nice to meet you, and once again, I am terribly sorry for running into you," I said and then bowed in apology.

As Arty was about to yell at us again, Elek said, "So, I'm sure you boys have a good reason for running into my wife."

"We do, sir," Naruto said, "You see, we're late to meet up with our team to take the Rescue Team Exams, so we were hurrying over to get there."

"Oh, I see," Arty said, surprisingly forgetting about the whole issue and then being a nice sweet person, "What is your team's name, sweetie?"

"Team Believers," Naruto said.

Both Arty and Elek widened their eyes with a sudden smile and looked at each other. I wondered what they meant by that. Then, Elek smiled at us as he bent down to us.

"Your team is one of the most watched newcomers this year," he told us, "In fact, my wife and I were looking forward to hearing if you pass this year."

I know he was blind, but something seemed to twinkle in Elek's eyes as if he knew something about us that we didn't. But it wasn't hostile, so Naruto and I didn't perceive it as a threat. My brother wagged his tail as we smiled and nodded to him.

"I promise that Team Believers won't let you down, Mr. Elek!" he barked happily.

The Blaziken smiled, but as he turned to face me, although he was blind, there was a way he sort of looked at me that seemed to suggest that there was something not right about how he viewed me. It was the same sort of glare or interested look King's brother Pyro gave me. It was like they could tell that I wasn't a true Pikachu, or a normal one. But Elek seemed nice so he smiled at me and then turned to his wife.

"All right honey, these two young boys need to get going. Let's let them go," he said.

"Oh, all right," she said smiling, "I guess we can let them go."

"Thank you for forgiving us, Mrs. Arty," Naruto said happily, and with a wag of his tail, looked at me and said, "Let's double-time it back but with carefulness!"

"Roger that!" I said with a grin as we both waved good-bye to our new friends, who would later become big players of the story.

Yet, I kept a little thought to myself. That dream with the pitch-black indescribable human figure... I wonder... Did it have to do anything with my previous dream about the two Pokémon shadows?

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	63. Chapter 63

After **running** into Elek and Arty for the first time, Naruto and I began to make our way towards the Exams area, which would apparently be starting at the pond to **start** with. As we made our way there, he could tell that I was a bit shocked about something. He looked at me and perked his ears up in curiosity.

"Hey, brother, are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm all right," I said, looking at him, "Just wondering."

"Maybe I can help!" Naruto said cheerfully, "So, what's up?"

"Well, it's just that Arty was an Articuno!" I said excitedly and amazed.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto said, completely **oblivious** to my reasoning.

I blinked at him with utter amazement and then added, "You seriously not amazed by that? Naruto, back in the human world, Articuno are legendary Pokémon! It's rare for anyone to even see one!"

"Oh, I know, it's the same here," Naruto said smiling, "but you see, sometimes legendary Pokémon are very civil or they come here at a very young age and get so acquainted with society that they're just like one of us."

"Oh, I get it," I said, "So Arty must've come here then."

"Yeah, but right now, let's worry about getting there, okay?" Naruto giggled at me and said.

I nodded as we headed into the square and went to the pond area. And man, it was PACKED. I mean, absolutely packed! There were tons of Pokémon there, big and small, that were competing in the Exams. Wonderful, does that mean we had to go against all of these teams to pass? I groaned as Naruto had a huge sweatdrop go down his head.

"Oh, wow, um… when Sasuke told me it was big this year, I didn't think that big," he said nervously.

I felt a slow but sudden **nervousness** grow inside of me as I frowned. He looked over to me and flinched, realizing he made me nervous when he wasn't supposed to. He waved his paws at me and smiled nervously.

"H-Hey, it's all right! I'm sure that we'll be able to pass this year, Thomas!" he tried to say positively, but it wasn't working whatsoever.

"Are you really sure, Naruto?" I asked raising my eyebrow at him, "I mean, I had my doubts before and I still am confident in my abilities to do my part in helping you, but… now that I know there's so many…"

"Hey, don't lose your confidence, Thomas," he said to me with a smile, "I'm sure that we'll be able to pass this year. With Sasuke and Batsu on our team, we can't lose."

"Oh? Then can you first **find** them in this place with this many Pokémon?" I said, giving him an unimpressed glare.

There was an uncomfortable pause and silence from my brother as a comically huge sweatdrop came down his face and slowly smiled nervously. He carefully scanned the area as quickly as he could to try to find them.

"U-Uh, yeah, sure," he said, looking around, "I can find them. Just leave it to me to find them, okay?"

"….You don't know where they are, do you?" I asked as a smirk came across my face.

"I said follow me, would ya?" Naruto tried to take my attention away from the question I asked, which I know the answer was no.

So, I nodded as Naruto began to follow me towards the middle of the crowd. There were so many teams there that I could easily have freaked at if I still had my fear of Pokémon. As we came nearer to the middle, he stopped and looked back with a face of uneasiness.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet here with them," Naruto said.

"Do you think or do you know?" I asked.

"Will you have faith in your older brother?" he said, a bit annoyed, and with myself starting to feel like I was getting revenge for the teasing he gave me with Zoey.

"I don't have much faith in someone who doesn't know what they're doing either," I said as he looked at me with an anime-style angry face.

"Hey! I have a better nose than you, Mr. I-know-everything!" Naruto said as he suddenly got a good glare and smirk on his face, "You better stop mocking me or I'm gonna pin you down and tickle you when it's just the two of us again."

Secretly and utterly afraid of that threat but keeping my composure around him, I folded my arms and looked away, saying, "I'm not trying to mock you. In fact, I don't really know what to do here at all."

"Wow, you two are completely clueless idiots, aren't you?"

My ears perked up with Naruto's as we both saw a Gengar, Ekans, and Medicham approach us. As I looked at them I could feel already by the air around them that they would not be friends of ours at all. They felt rotten and mischievous as they smirked evilly at us. Naruto stepped closer to my side, just in case something got ugly at all between us. The Gengar who obviously was the one who talked put his hands on his side.

"You can't even find your team and the exams are about to start. Geez, you guys aren't the brightest bulbs in the package," Gengar said.

"I guess in a way we are clueless, but seriously consider how big this place is. It's no wonder we wouldn't be able to find our team with all these people here," I said blinking.

"Oh, please. You live here, don't you? You should know this area like the back of your paw, Pikachu," Ekans tried to mock me.

I suppressed a really insulting comeback to that and closed my eyes a bit unimpressed as I said, "Um, I think you missed my point."

"Heh, whatever, shorty," Gengar said, catching my attention and making me a bit upset, "If there's any team that's going to pass this year, it's Team Meanies. That means we won't be beaten by a bunch of kids like you."

"Haha! Are they even teenagers? They don't even look old enough!" Ekans mocked us.

"I think that babies shouldn't try to be mature and leave this Rescue Team Exams to the pros," Medichan smirked and stooped over us.

I frowned angrily at them as Naruto growled, "We're not babies! We'll pass this year, no doubt about it!"

"Naruto, is there a problem over here?" we heard the joyous voice of our older brother say behind us.

We turned around to see Sasuke looking at Team Meanies with a serious look as the others were behind him. I sighed a big relief as I stepped back and the others joined us. In secret, I was starting to get a bit annoyed that Sasuke or Naruto had to always save me and I was starting to get angry at myself for not standing up for myself. But hey, that's what loving older siblings do; stand up for you.

"What in the world? This is your team?" Gengar said folding his arms.

"Eh? What's wrong with us, bloat-boy?" King said.

"What's right with this? You got a two babies, the two strongest rookies, the brother of a member of Team A.C.T, and the pickpocket of the square on the same team?" Medicham said surprised yet mockingly.

"Tch, a bunch of misfits. I have no clue how the lot of you became an organized group, but you should leave the mission to pros, not to a pack of babies," Gengar said rolling his eyes smirking.

"Oh, and were supposed to leave the mission to a bunch of jerkbags like you?" King said angrily.

"Excuse me?!" Gengar said as the team got angry.

"Honestly, who is going to hire a rescue team when their team name is Meanies?" Zev said, folding his arms unimpressed.

"If a team is not properly coordinated or their demeanor is not worthy to the client, they will not be hired at all in their career and thus become an ineffective team," Batsu said, unknown to me whether he was stating a rule or not.

"Plus, there's no reason to insult other people just because of their looks," Sasuke said, trying to diffuse the anger, "I'm sure both our teams will do good, don't you?"

Suddenly, there came a evil grin from Gengar as he said, "Well, guys, I believe that we found our new rivals and they want to pick a fight with us."

We all blinked in surprise as Sasuke said, "No, we don't want to fight you, and especially not here."

"We are not allowed to engage in combat unless the exam proctors allow us to," Batsu said folding his arms, "Therefore, we will not fight you."

"Heh, speak for yourself, Batsu!" King said, grinning, "If they want their butts to get burned by me, then I am willing to do that for free."

Zev scoffed as he looked like he might've gotten ready to fight just in case. He slowly slipped into a fighting stance with King as multiple Pokémon started to take notice. I didn't know whether they would start to jump in to fight or just have fun watching us, but some of their faces were menacing enough to make my skin crawl.

"Yeah, we'll teach you who's the real babies!" Naruto said as he snarled.

"Naruto, don't!" Sasuke tried to stop him.

"Hey, bring it on, you wimps!" Gengar said as his team got ready and a fight looked almost inevitable.

"All right, that's enough! You stop right there!" an adult voice said.

We all jumped to see a normal looking Typhlosion yell at us while his arms were folded, but something shocked me about his appearance. His flame on his back was blue! It was dark and light blue as he had a bit of fur ruffled on his forehead. He glared at us with an angry look on his face.

"You, the team with the Gengar! Knock it off! Who told you that you can pick a fight with an opposing team?" he said, and then to all of us, "Do you honestly want to get disqualified before the exams even begin?"

Naruto gasped as he realized who it was, "You're Tony!"

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	64. Chapter 64

I looked at Naruto after he called the Typhlosion's name. Tony? Hmm… Oh, yeah! The Typhlosion which had blue flames and was the second proctor of the exams! So, this was him. He wore a silver **necklace** and a black **leather jacket** as his arms were folded.

"Well, answer me," Tony said as he looked at us, "Do you really want me to disqualify you as a result of your impatience and your actions!?"

Gengar smirked evilly, more than usual, and said, "Sorry. We don't know what came over us. We just get into it when conflict comes up, you know?"

Tony scoffed at him and said with an amazingly creepy yet amazing look, "You better get a grip then. And so the both of you teams hear me out, **listen** to this: Rescue Teams are not allowed to get into battles with each other unless instructed by one of the proctors. Got it?"

Medicham giggled to herself as Ekans smirked and said, "Aww, no fighting? That doesn't sound fun."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a flash of blue flames surrounded Team Meanies, scaring the holy hell out of not only them, but me and our team. We watched Tony stand on the edge of the blue flames and walk towards them with one of the most downright no-nonsense faces ever.

"Let me set you straight right here, smart alecks," he said, "Fighting in battles may be fun, and the ability to be a Rescue Team is exciting, but every mission, someone's life can be on the line. Your client; heck, your own lives can be risked at any time to save somebody's life. When people count on us, there is no fun; there is life and death, and your attitude towards it can affect it. UNDERSTAND ME?"

Team Meanies all shivered and nodded as Gengar said with a nervous smile, "Y-Y-Yes, sir. We understand. We won't do it ever again."

"Good. Now get away from this team and don't **start** anything with them at all unless instructed," Tony said.

With that, Team Meanies nearly disappeared out of sight after that threat in a cloud of dust. I could hear a chuckle from Naruto as King muttered something like 'cowards' under his breath. As Tony turned to us, he had a different face on. He was smiling and **cheerful**, beaming with a positive air as he turned towards us.

"Sorry about that, kids," he said as he chuckled, "I knew they were the ones getting on your case, so I decided to show them a bit of my interrogation attitude."

"Huh? Interrogation attitude?" I asked out loud.

"Tony not only is the second proctor of the exams, but is one of the chiefs of the interrogation tactics group. They handle criminals and interrogate them," Sasuke explained to me.

"Oh, Sasuke. This must be your team. So, then you must be the new yet most watched Team Believers," he said and then looking at me closely, "And that would mean that you're Thomas."

"I'm starting to get the vibe that people knowing my name is a bad thing now," I said as I slowly closed my eyes.

"Well, what do you think, when you go off challenging the Elder like that?" King said, rolling his eyes, "That gets people's attention, kid."

I rubbed my head as Tony laughed and said, "Well, it's not bad or anything, Thomas. We're just interested in your team this year a bit. Oh, by the way, Sasuke, I wanted to let you know who your team supervisor is."

I blinked as Sasuke saw me and told me, "When a team competes for official Rescue Team Status, they get a supervisor, who is someone who has been in or is in a Rescue Team to basically overlook and train the team. It's sort of like a teacher. If you pass the exams, then the supervisor with your team stays."

"Mhm, that's right," Tony said, handing over a piece of paper to my brother, "Your supervisor is going to be a Blaziken named Elek. You can find him in the Champion's Arena over there to the right. All right, I gotta go prepare. See you all later."

As Tony waved goodbye and left our sight, Naruto got excited and said, "Sasuke! Thomas and I met Elek earlier today!"

"Oh really?" Sasuke said, "So, now you know what he looks like?"

"Huh? Does that mean all of you know who he is?" Naruto asked as I blinked.

"Yes," Batsu said, "He was the leader of an uprising team named Team Kristof. However, according to my father, his team abandoned him in a fight, which led Elek to be blind. Now, he lives as a professional wrestler in the town."

"So, we have a wrestler as a leader of our team?" King said, rolling his eyes, "Great…"

"Hmmm… I'm interested in learning more about this Elek person," Zev said.

"What? Oh, come on," King said, shaking his head, "He's a wrestler. What's he going to teach us that can help us save people? Wrestling moves? Plus, he's blind. How is that going to help?"

"Since when does having a disadvantage as being blind prevent someone from being a great fighter?" I asked him.

"Thomas is right," Zev said, nodding, "Some of the greatest legends in our history had limbs gone, they lost their hearing, etc."

"King, he was the leader of a Rescue Team. He knows a lot more than we do in this area," Batsu said folding his arms, "Just because he's no longer in an active team doesn't mean that we can't learn things from him."

"I kinda want to see what he can do," I said, much to King's annoyance.

"Me too," Sasuke said, "So, according to Tony, he's in the Champion's Arena near the right. Why don't we go meet him?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Zev said, heading over already, "I wanna meet the guy who we're going to be taken lessons and advice from."

"So, what exactly is the Champion's arena?" I asked.

Naruto wagged his tail and explained, "It's basically for sport events like wrestling, boxing, you get the idea. It's a gold building that looks like a trophy."

As we approached the huge gold building, we went inside and went through a few hallways until we saw a huge arena with lots of cheering and noise coming from it. We slowly opened the door to see tons of Pokémon cheering towards a wrestling ring. Inside the ring was a Machamp and a certain chubby Blaziken wrestling. It already showed that they had been wrestling for a while and both were tired. We were astounded that Elek being blinded took nothing away from him and his fighting ability.

"W-Whoa…" King said, obviously impressed by Elek's in-ring ability.

"What was that, King? Actually impressed by a blind ex-rescue member?" Naruto teased with a smirk.

A sudden whap hit him on the top of his head as my bro yelped in surprise. As I looked back in the match, the Machamp had gotten Elek into a huge Powerbomb and slammed him into the mat. The supervisor of our team slowly groaned as he laid on the mat to regain himself for a little bit. Slowly, his opponent got closer to him and then helped him up. He slowly wrapped all four arms around him and then did a powerful bearhug. Elek grunted as his eyes clamped shut and struggled as he started to pant harder for an escape.

The ref, who was an older Conkeldurr, walked over and asked, "Elek, do you wanna submit?"

"Urrgh… no…" Elek said as he grunted and winced in pain.

"Oh, man… he's stuck in a bearhug by a Machamp. Those Pokémon have some of the strongest physical abilities of most fighting types," Naruto said.

"See? What did I tell you? He's gonna lose," King said with a know-it-all attitude.

"King, you underestimate people way too quickly," Zev groaned by rolling his eyes at him, "Just wait for the match to be over, would ya?"

"What'd you say?" King said, again causing the two of them to get close to each other and have that intense emotion about them.

Once again, a flash came and Batsu stood in between them, with King and Zev grabbing their heads and grunting in pain. Naruto and I giggled as the Riolu explained what Zev meant.

"I believe the reason that Zev was going for was that just because a Pokémon has a disadvantage doesn't mean that he's going to lose. A little Togepi can defeat a giant Onix with enough training. So, just because Elek right now is in a tight spot right now, does not mean he can't pull out of this and come back," he explained.

"Come on, Elek," I said under my breath, "You can do it."

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	65. Chapter 65

Elek grunted and gritted his teeth as he felt Machamp's arms squeeze his body and test his durability. He slowly opened his eyes and decided that it was time to outsmart his opponent; if he couldn't escape with physical strength, he was going to use his opponent's momentum against him. He quickly brought his right foot behind his opponent's left leg and tripped it. The Machamp widened his eyes and fell backwards, letting go of Elek so he could try to catch himself from falling. The crowd cheered as Elek shook off the **numbness** from the bearhug and rushed at the Machamp. We were completely surprised (King was more than us) as we watched Elek finish this **match**.

He quickly dropkicked the Machamp as he was getting up, causing against to lean on **the ropes**. Elek bounced off the other ropes, running as fast as he could to the side of his opponent. He then grabbed the top and middle rope and with amazing speed for someone so chubby and also blind, went through the ropes and did the 619 wrestling move by swinging his legs in a 180 **degree** motion and kicking Machamp in the face. As he fell back, the Blaziken got ready to finish the move. Once his opponent stood up, he jumped on the top rope and launched himself at his opponent. He landed on his shoulders, causing a hard knockdown on the mat. He then quickly grabbed the legs and held him in a Senton Pin. The Ref then began to count.

"1! 2! 3!"

The whole arena went ballistic as Elek got off and raised his hands in victory. We all clapped and cheered for our supervisor as Naruto turned to King with a smirk.

"So, is Elek still not as good as you think?" he asked.

"Rrgh, oh, all right," King groaned, "So, he's a lot better than I gave him credit for."

"He was so fast," Sasuke said, "Some of the moves he did when we just got in, I couldn't see because of his speed."

"It makes me wonder how fast he used to be back in his prime and rescue team," Batsu said watching him.

As we watched him slowly help Machamp up and a while passed as a lot of the Pokémon left, we saw Elek go over to a section near the right and talk with Arty, who was actually here the whole time in the stands.

"Oh, look, Thomas," Naruto said, wagging his tail, "That's Arty."

"You met Arty as well, bro?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we sorta bumped into her," I said, as Naruto and I gave each other a bit of a nervous grin.

"She's the Square's archeologist," Batsu said, "Arty is currently searching ancient territories and legends of a specific tale."

"Oh? Which one?" Naruto asked as his ears perked up.

"It's the ancient tales of humans and how they existed. You know, from the legend of Ninetales?" he told my brother.

Suddenly, a huge smirk rose right on my face. I looked away and giggled silently to myself at that. So, this Arty was trying to research the legends of creatures… like me? I knew everything about that and a part of me felt a bit bad for being unable to blow my cover and tell her everything. Secretly though, Zev and Batsu saw my smirk as I shook my head in secret glee. They raised an eyebrow as I looked back. Seeing that I may get caught, I immediately lost my smirk and looked away again. Seeing this, Sasuke cleared his throat, getting their attention.

"Well, we might as well go meet them before the exams. Come on," he signaled as he began to talk to them.

"Right! Come on, Thomas," Naruto said, taking a small yet soft bite on my arm and luring me onto going to our supervisor.

"Oww, not so rough, Naruto!" I scolded as he pulled me along.

As he led me there, the others followed Sasuke towards Elek and Arty. As we approached them, the Blaziken slowly turned to us and smiled gently as Arty smirked and jumped down beside him.

"Hello, Team Believers. I've been expecting you," he said gently, making me feel like I was really liked.

"Hello, sir," Sasuke said, nodding.

"Heh, please don't call me sir, young one," Elek said, "Please just call me Elek."

As my brother nodded, he continued, "I'm very honored to meet all of you and be your supervisor. So, let me introduce myself properly. I am Elek of the former Team Kristof. And this is my wife Arty."

Arty smiled and ruffled her feathers as she saw me and Naruto. Slowly, Naruto's giggle came out as I grabbed a bit of his fur to tell him to calm down, since we knew what exactly Arty meant by ruffling her feathers. He cleared his throat as Batsu eyed us again.

"And it's good to see you again, Naruto and Thomas," he said, "after you bumped into my wife."

"Hmm, I'm guessing when you two said you bumped into them, you literally bumped into them?" he asked.

"The word 'bumped' is not the word I'd use…" Arty went on, about to rant until Elek shot her a glare to make her calm down.

Poor Sasuke widened his eyes at us and scolded, "Guys! What did you two do?"

Both of us blushed in embarrassment as we giggled together and tried to hide behind the other. Elek chuckled slowly as he waved it off to Sasuke.

"It's all right, Sasuke," he said with a smile, "It was an accident and we let bygones by bygones. But I'm more excited in knowing all of your names," and after we all were introduced, "Wonderful. It's great to be acquainted with you."

"You're an amazing competitor in the ring, Elek," Naruto said, wagging his tail happily.

A huge red **blush** came across his face as he said, "Oh, you came during the match?"

"Yeah, you were pretty amazing back there. You were able to escape Machamp's Bearhug and totally reverse the whole match for your victory," I said smiling.

"It's unfortunate that only one member of the group underestimated you during your fight," Zev said, slightly grinning.

King's anger binged and looked at Zev as he snapped, "What was that, punk?!"

"Hey, it's what you said, right? You said just because he got into his Bearhug, that it was over and he was going to lose," Zev said, closing his eyes.

"Rggh… oh, shut up, y-," King was about to threaten, but then both tough guys saw Batsu eye them.

Both guys realized just by the look of his eyes that if they continued with one more word of their arguing, Batsu would wap them on the head again and HARD. Both guys took a good look at him then at each other, and with a 'hmph', both looked away, although they wished they could continue. It caused a giggle out of me, Naruto, and even Elek.

"Well, you all are an individual bunch indeed," our teacher laughed, "and that's why I really requested to be your supervisor."

"Huh?" Sasuke asked as it caught all of our attention, "But doesn't supervisors have no say in the matter? I thought they get assigned to teams, not able to ask request a certain team."

"Well, that's true, but… oh, never mind. That's a story for another day," Elek said smiling.

"Um, hello? You guys are going to be late. The exams start in five minutes!" Arty said, tapping her foot on the ground with a bit of urgency.

"Oh, right!" Elek said as he looked at Sasuke, "Before you go, let me give you some advice. The team comes first and functions as a body. Now, go out there and I'll see you again if you pass."

"All right, you guys! Let's head back to the pond!" Sasuke said as he waved for us to follow him.

As we turned to leave, I looked back at Elek and Arty. I had a feeling, although I'm not psychic and I didn't know if we would pass the exams, that we would see them in the future more. Of course, you don't need to take my word for it… actually, wait… you do, since I'm telling you my story.

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	66. Chapter 66

"Sooo… are we going to get this exams started?" Zev asked as he looked around the pond area.

I could understand the slight annoyance in his voice. After all, we were in the pond area and it had been ten minutes since the exams were SUPPOSED to **get started**, but alas, it was late and no word was received yet. Everyone excluding Sasuke was standing near the water of the pond. Our leader had gone to make sure we were all set with **registration** and everything was **complete** for us.

"I know, it's bullcrap…" King growled to himself, "It's so stupid that they'd make such a big deal about being here on time and then be late about the whole freaking thing."

"Well, they did say to us that there's double the amount of candidates this year than last year, so I can understand if we're a bit late," Naruto said, scratching his **left ear** with his hind leg.

"It worries me a bit. I mean, look at all these teams," I said, as we all look at them, "Aren't you a bit worried?"

There was, I kid you not, at least 128 teams! Yeah! I wish I was joking. The pond area was so packed that the masses of candidates spilled out into the square and crowded the intersection. So, I turned back to the other members while saying that, but was a bit surprised when all of their faces didn't look at all nervous or unwavering.

"Not at all. We Rescue Teams have to be ready for any kind of odds at any time!" Naruto winked at me.

"I faced really tough Rescue Teams and bad guys in my past as a pickpocket," Zev said, looking away, "I've had to be on top of my game for a long time and be ready for any challenge that came my way in order to not get arrested."

"Hah! There's no room for **nervousness** and fear in Rescue Teams! You have to be strong and unwavering in any type of fight!" King said, grinning and folding his arms.

"When you become a part of something important, you must be aware that when you try to help someone, your attitude not only the client, but the teammates and Pokémon watching you," Batsu said, looking at me.

"Wow… you seem to be the most calm out of all of us, Batsu. I don't know if I can ever be as mellow as you," I said, looking at him.

"My father had trained me to be fearless and strong in any situation. I am ready for anything at all times for most problems," he said, "You can do it too, but you will need much training and patience to calm yourself and master your emotions."

"Ah, I see. It's just that the first stage of the exams is the crystal hunt. To know that we're going against all of these teams sort of made me a bit cautious…" I said, rubbing my head.

"It's perfectly all right to be a little cautious about something, bro. Just don't doubt yourself, all right?" Naruto said to me with a smile.

"Yeah, I won't. I'll do my best," I said, nodding.

"Good. Frankly, I refuse to lose to any teams here, especially that bunch of big-headed brats called Team Meanies," Zev said.

"Their team name does happen to fit their characteristics," I said, "though I don't mean to be rude."

"Don't mean to be rude to them? Pipsqueak, you're way too nice," King closed his eyes and said with a grunt.

"I mean, what's with them anyways?" Naruto said, looking up in the sky, "All they did was come over to me and Thomas when we were talking and then started to insult us, like calling us babies."

"Well, I can understand that. I mean, you two are very young for your ages, so it's no science debate there," King said shrugging at our mean glares at him.

"Teams like them have no right to be in these exams," Batsu stated, "If fellow citizens cannot trust a team based on their actions, then there's no point for them to exist as an official team."

"Yeah, you tell 'em, BaAAAAAHH!" King screamed.

All of us jumped at King's scream as I asked, "W-What's wrong?"

"S-Something just grabbed my tail!" King said as he turned around to look at what the problem was.

Clinging onto King's tail was a tiny Buizel that looked like a child. He was wagging his tail happily and humming as he had the cute look Sasuke and Naruto used on me. He was snuggling into King as the Charmeleon stared confusedly at the tiny Pokémon.

"Whoa, it's a miniature Sasuke!" Naruto said, going over to the Buizel and sniffing him, causing him to giggle.

"It's not Sasuke, you dweeb!" King said in a gruff and grumpy tone as he looked at the Buizel, "It's some little kid or something."

"Mmmmm… you feel nice and warm. I like you," the Buizel said happily to King, making him blink and blush.

"Does he belong to some parent around here? Because the last time I checked, Sasuke was the only Buizel that lived in Pokémon Square before the exams," Zev said.

"So, does this mean that this Buizel in the Rescue Team Exams with someone?" Naruto said, widening his eyes.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" we heard Sasuke say as he walked over to us, "Huh? Oh, Holt, it's been a while, little buddy!"

"Sasuke!" the Buizel said as he let go of King and ran towards Sasuke.

My brother scooped him into a hug as Holt purred and snuggled into him happily. We all blinked as we watched the little guy look at us with the cutest smile I had ever seen so far. Naruto walked over to Sasuke and sat next to him.

"Bro, you know this little guy?" he asked.

"Yeah, his name is Holt. He's a part of a team of three Buizels named Team Bui-Power. So, if he's nearby, than that must mean that Draco and Ryoshi are here as well," Sasuke answered.

"Holt! There you are!"

We turned to see a Buizel with a chain around his torso and a sword sheathed on his back with another Buizel with a red headband tied around his head walk over to us. Holt jumped out of Sasuke's arms and into the Buizel with the sword's arms.

"Everyone, the one with the sword is Draco. The other is Ryoshi," Sasuke introduced.

"Oh, Sasuke! Long time no see, man," Ryoshi waved to him and grinned, "I see you're taking the exams as well?"

"Oh, yeah. My brother and I have been training for a while now, and now that we have a team, we're ready to try our first time," Sasuke said with a smile.

"Holt, you can't just run off and go talk with random Pokémon. You could get hurt," Draco said in concern to Holt.

"But Draco, the Charmeleon is so warm and nice to hug!" Holt pouted, causing King to blush and grunt as he looked away.

Stifling the giggles I had for that scene, Draco smiled at him and asked, "Oh, so you like that Charmeleon?"

Holt turned back to King and smiled, "Yeah, I think he's so awesome! What's your name, Mr. Charmeleon?"

King blinked in surprise and said, "U-Uh, King."

"Okay, King, I like you! I can't wait to hug you again! See you later! Bye!" Holt cheerfully waved and said.

As Team Bui-Power left, we all looked at King with smirks (of course, excluding Batsu). The bully of the square looked at us with an annoyed glare.

"What?!" he snapped at us.

"D'awwww, King has a wittle fan. Isn't that the sweetest thing?" Naruto teased.

"You speak in that tone of voice to me again, and I will pop," the Charmeleon warned my brother, who giggled at his act to act tough.

"That is pretty sweet, King. You gotta admit that having a fan already is kinda awesome," Sasuke said, smiling at him.

A simple 'hmph' arose out of King as Zev said with a smirk, "That's his way of saying he agrees."

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	67. Chapter 67

"Oh, Thomas! I can't believe I can see you again!" I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

We all turned around to see Zoey, the female Pikachu that I had seen a while back, with her team. There was a Buizel with a bit of fur hair with a Pansear and **Bulbasaur** behind him. The Pansear wore a blue bandana like the Buizel while the Bulbasaur wore a spike collar. Zoey was smiling at me and blushing (again) as she blinked.

"It's great to see you all here to take the exams," She said.

"Yeah, I'm nervous, but I'm ready," I said, smiling back at her.

"Marco, it's been a while, man," **Sasuke** said, smiling.

The Buizel slowly nodded to him with a slight smirk and said, "Yeah, you too, Sasuke. It's been a while since we've been in one place. So… this is your whole team? Really?"

"Yeah, I know it's different than when I said just me and Naruto…" my brother said, rubbing his head in a bit of embarrassment.

"I don't know whether quantity over quality is good, but it seems you're gonna pass with **flying colors** if you've got great teamwork," the Bulbasaur said.

"Oh, hi. I haven't seen you before," Sasuke said, offering a paw.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Leroy," the nice Bulbasaur said as he shook paws with his right front one.

"Might as well introduce all of us, for those who don't know us," Marco said smirking, "We're Team Lightgale. I'm Marco the leader. This is Zoey, Carter, and Leroy."

"Yo!" Carter said happily.

"Great to meet you all," Sasuke said, as Naruto slowly started to grin.

I knew what was going through his mind and frankly, I was NOT in the mood to deal with it. Because who knows what he would make the others think of me further by stating how I thought Zoey was cute and… ! Um, well, I didn't say she was cute. ! Not to say she isn't cute, but… urrrgh….

"Well, we're gonna go prepare, so we'll talk to you all later!" Marco waved to us as Team Lightgale started to leave.

"Bye, Thomas!" Zoey waved and said specifically to me.

"Um… bye!" I said, as we all waved (except Batsu).

As they all left, then Naruto gave me that wink again. I slowly deadened my gaze at him as I sort of growled under my breath. Sasuke looked back and sighed with annoyance as the other members raised an eyebrow at us.

"She's gotten cuter, hasn't she?" Naruto said, **grinning**.

"Shut up, or I will shock you," I growled.

"What are you two idiots blabbing about now?" King said groaning.

"Thomas secretely has a crush on Zoey," my idiot brother try to **start** something.

As the other three looked at me, I said with an angry look, "I do NOT. Naruto was teasing me and putting words in my mouth, making me say she was cute."

"Well, do you think Zoey's not cute?" Zev asked, folding his arms.

"Well, I technically do, but unknown to my brother here, just because you think someone's cute doesn't mean you're in love with that person," I explained, "There's a big difference between those two things."

As I looked at them, I was surprised to see all five, including Batsu, looking at me wide-eyed as if they've never heard such a thing. Was it because I said something that maybe humans only seemed to get? I mean, I mean no disrespect to Pokémon or humans who hold them in high respect, but I've never seen one that knew into depth about love before. So, I guess I could understand why what I said was a new experience for them to hear.

"R-Really?" Zev said, interested.

"I've never heard of something like that before," Sasuke said.

"Thomas, you've got me interested in this point. Can you explain please?" Batsu said, shocking me to see who of all people asked me to elaborate.

"Well… I mean, it's sort of going on how appearance shouldn't equal true love. I mean, I guess I can explain it in two points. First off, let's say for an example that a girl says I look handsome or attractive. They may think I look good, but that doesn't automatically mean she and I are gonna date or be future mates. And the second point really is a moral thing for me. I don't like girls who are just looks alone; I look inside of a girl and see what she's really like. I'd rather date the ugliest girl who is the sweetest and king person in the world than a girl who's beautiful yet is a total drama queen or rotten person," I explained.

King made an impressed face as he said, "Wow, pipsqueak, that was really intelligent and wise of ya."

Giving him an ignored stare of unappreciation, Naruto wagged his tail and said, "Well, I think that's awesome! I've never thought about love that way before."

"Naruto, when have you ever thought of love? You've thought of eating and rescue missions; that's it," Sasuke said, folding his arms.

"Heh, you don't know that much about me, bro. I might just surprise you," Naruto said, grinning to cause Sasuke to roll his eyes.

"Believing love in a complex meaning other than the outside and viewing the personality… I completely agree with this, Thomas," Batsu said, nodding to me.

"R-Really? Wow, I never thought something I'd say something that made you interested!" I said really and truthfully amazed.

"Hey, don't lose your focus, kid. We got an exam to pass," King said smiling.

It was then that out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little Pokémon hiding behind a corner of a building. He was a small Treecko who looked a little under my age, but had the old personality of mine: shy, timid, and cautious. I do have to say I really loved his Fedora hat. That made him look like an explorer. And it seemed that Zev knew who he was, because he actually sweetly smiled at him and then looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I gotta go for just a second. I gotta check on something," he said, and with a nod from my brother, walked over to the Treecko and bent down talking to him.

Right as Zev left, I noticed a female Umbreon slowly approached from behind Batsu and advance towards the group. She was a normal colored Umbreon, but she had a bit of bangs near her ears. I watched as she slowly came up behind the Riolu and then rubbed into him. She slowly snuggled into him as she walked romantically around him. Batsu slowly closed his eyes and raised his head up, shockingly starting to purr a bit. And to make me surprised as heck, he started to smile! He snuggled back into her as she slowly brought her face to his cheek and then licked it gently. She then looked at Sasuke, who smiled happily at her.

"Lemme guess, Karine, you want to talk to Batsu quickly?" he asked.

Karine nodded and said, "If I could have a couple minutes, I'd like to."

Sasuke chuckled and nodded, "All right, you can. Batsu, we'll see you in a bit."

Batsu slowly smiled at Karine (who anybody could deduce now must've been Batsu's girlfriend) and walked with her to a spot so the two of them could talk. It was then that Zev had come back and the Treecko was gone. We all turned to him and he nodded to us.

"Sorry, if I took so long to come back," he said.

"It's perfectly fine, but," Naruto said, "I didn't know you knew a Treecko."

Zev smiled and waved it off, "Oh, that was Sorren, my little brother."

My brothers and King looked automatically shocked then as the Charmeleon said, "W-What!? You have a little brother!? When!?"

"What's such a big deal about me having a brother?" Zev asked, folding his arms.

"Well, I don't want to step on your toes about past things, Zev, but besides your father, I've never heard of other family relations you had," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, I really don't like to talk about it, but Sorren has been living with me for a long time. He's really shy and nervous around others besides me, so it's no wonder you've never seen him around at all," he explained.

Just listening to everyone else and seeing how many Pokémon loved them made me feel a bit sad. I mean, Sasuke and Naruto has the Ramen Shack and Kangaskhan Storage people to take care of them, Batsu has his dad and Karine, King has his brothers, and now even Zev has this Sorren guy. I mean, I had the old man, Tucker and the group, and even the principal, police officers, and the other trainers. But they were… technically dead in the past. So, I was really the loner here, but I couldn't get down. I have to give it my all for this exam.

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	68. Chapter 68

"Ahem. Everyone, attention!"

Everyone turned around to see that Lucario had walked towards the middle of the pond and had spoken. Batsu had hurried over to us as we stood as everyone quieted down. The citizens of the square watched from the back as he continued.

"It's time that we started this, so welcome to the Rescue Team Exams. We are so honored to have you hear in celebrating a generous tradition that we hold and value so dear and highly. As you know, the **Rescue Teams** were founded for the protection of those that cannot fend for themselves and the ones they love. With virtues of honor, love, care, honesty, responsibility, and courage, we strive to uphold our moral **code**. We live by the motto of this famous saying: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' If you cannot live by this motto, you shall never be a Rescue Team, not as long as I'm here. You will be tested not only in strength and abilities, but heart and truth to see if you stand through this challenge. Even if you fail, never give up hope, for you may hold someone's life in your hands tomorrow," Lucario started an impressive speech.

As he continued, I could feel just how serious that everyone was taking this… and how I **needed** to take it. I looked at my brothers and the rest of Team Believers, as they listened with serious faces. I felt a bit of pride that I was able to compete in such a thing.

"In a few minutes, you will have your first proctor come forth to talk about the first stage about the exams. I **bid you** all good luck," Lucario finished as he left the middle and everyone cheered.

I smiled as I turned to look at Batsu and say something.

"Hey, Batsu, your dad was incredible!" I said happily.

But to my surprise, I forgot that Batsu was on the left side and I was addressing a Riolu with long hair on his head and ruffled chest fur. He blinked at me in surprise as he chuckled.

"Hehe, sorry, man. I think you got the wrong Riolu. My name's Austin," he said to me.

"Oh, geez, I'm terribly sorry. My name's Thomas," I apologized, embarrassed as a sweatdrop went down my head.

"It's okay. So, I take it you're from the Pokémon Square?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, but technically, I just got here only a couple of days ago. I was attacked by multiple Pokémon and lost my memory as well as took a huge beating. So, the leader of my team took me in and now I'm living here for now," I explained to him.

"Ah, cool," he said smiling, "So, what's your team name?"

"Team Believers. You?" I asked.

"Oh, my team's name is C-12," Austin smiled, rubbing his head.

"C-12?" I asked, blinking, "What does that mean?"

"Well, I really don't know myself, but the other members of my team really liked it, so that's the name," Austin smiled a bit embarrassingly.

"So, who are the members of your team then?" I said, looking around, "I don't see anybody with you."

Austin began to say, "Well, they went off to make sure we were registered properly for the exams a-"

"SUUUUUPPPEEEEERRRR-FRRRRIIIIIEEEEEND!"

Out of nowhere, a pink flash swooped in front of me at blinding speeds and knocked Austin backwards, causing him to yelp in surprise. My team and nearby onlookers whirled around to see that Austin was completely dizzy on the ground with a Skitty on top of his head smiling happily. I blinked several times as Sasuke came over and stood by my side.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh, don't worry, my super friend likes it when I do that," the Skitty said.

"S-Speak for yourself, Mia," Austin said, as he tried to sit up.

"Honestly, Mia, did you have to tackle him and create this much of a scene?" we heard a female voice say as it came from behind them.

I looked over to see a Kirlia with glasses walking over towards the group as she slowly with Sasuke helped Austin up. With a cautious look on her face, she slowly was able to wedge Mia off of Austin's head as the rest of my team came over.

"Maybe, I had to," Mia said proudly with a grin.

"Wow, she has wicked speed!" Naruto said happily, "I wish I could go that fast!"

"I'm sorry for that embarrassing scene right there," the Kirlia bowed to us and said in apology.

"No, there's no problem at all," Sasuke said smiling, "You must be Team C-12, and you the leader Alyssa."

She slowly smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we traveled here from another Rescue Team H.Q town to take the exams."

"Why the hell did they have to put the exams here in the rundown place? They should've done it back in our town so we wouldn't have to travel," Mia grumbled.

"M-Mia! That's not nice!" Alyssa said in shock, and then turning to us, "I-I'm sorry for that comment too…"

"Well, Mia, the reason the exams are here is because not only is this Pokémon Square's turn to host the exams here, but to help teams from all over travel in a shorter distance. Believe it or not, this place is in the middle of travel distances, so it's shorter and easier for people all around to come here for the exams," Batsu explained (despite Mia's grumblings of how she didn't want to accept Batsu's reasons).

"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the exams. I am your first proctor for the first part of the exams."

As we heard a deep **male** voice say that, Naruto's eyes immediately sparkled with joy as he made an excited look on his face. He slowly wagged his tail faster as he grabbed Sasuke's paw with his mouth gently and tugs.

"Sasuke, come on! It's him! Come on, come on! I wanna see him!" he said happily as we and Team C-12 made our way towards looking at the middle.

When we got a clear view of who was talking, we saw that it was an adult Arcanine talking. He looked very gentle, wise, and kind as he spoke with a smile to the crowd. My brother immediately panted with excitement as his tail wapped me in the face as I walked closer to see the Arcanine. I giggled as I looked at him.

"So, I'm guessing that's someone Naruto really likes, Sasuke?" I asked.

"Sasuke, who is that?" Austin asked.

"That's Arcanine, the leader of Team Tactics, one of the five strongest Pokémon Rescue Teams. His team specializes in using speed and strategy to win battles," the Buizel explained.

"Oh, he's my idol!" Naruto said proudly, "I've always wanted to see him in person, and there he is. Ohh, I'm so happy. I gotta make sure I do my best if he's watching!"

"Wow, the little guy's got determination in proving himself," King said with a smirk, "Guess he has more guts and bravery than I give him credit for."

"When do you ever give him credit for anything?" Zev asked raising an eyebrow, only to have King reward him with a glare.

"I'm sure that most of you are ready to kick this thing off, so I might as well start explaining the first stage of the Rescue Team Exams. The first stage is to test how well you all function as a team in finding things or clients in a limited amount of time. For this stage, you will go around Pokémon Square and Tiny Woods, collecting the crystals and point materials before the time limit ends," Arcanine explained.

He slowly walked over and signaled to a few Pokémon to bring a board over that showed several pictures and numbers next to them, as well as a small bag that looked like it only had two items in it. Once this was done, he continued speaking.

Thus, Arcanine continued, "Each item has a certain amount of points. The items that have less points are more easy to spot around the square and woods and are larger in amount, while items that are more valuable are fewer and hidden. Most of the items are tiny crystals that are in different colors. The blue crystals are 1 point, red are 2, white are 3, green are 5, yellow are 10, and black are 20."

Arcanine then reached into a bad and pulled out a Pokémon plush doll. It was a cute Charmander, which really looked like King's little brother Pyro. Some of the teams chuckled a bit as Arcanine started to smile.

"Hehe, I know, I know. This looks a bit silly, doesn't it?" he said as he chuckled, "But believe it or not, these plush dolls are actually very important, so you better listen. These plush dolls will represent a client. If you find one of these plush dolls, you will get 100 points."

Everyone started to talk excitedly as I blinked at what I just heard. You mean to tell me that a tiny kids plush doll equaled THAT many points? Wow, I thought that the crystal hunt itself was silly; now they're encouraging us to pretend little kid toys are clients.

"But some of you might not find them. There are only 20 plush dolls, and only three are in the woods, so you're gonna need to look hard," Arcanine smirked, "But that's not even the biggest amount you can get."

He slowly pulled out an item out of the bag that shocked me out of my mind. It was an ipod! I'm not kidding! You know, the ipod device that you can listen to thousands of songs? I blinked in shock as everyone gasped in shock.

"Yes, that's right!" Arcanine said grinning, "This is an electronic device that the humans from the legends once used. They are worth a whopping total of 200 points! But there's only 5 of them. And the teams to collect these items, if they pass the exams, get to keep them."

As everyone talked amongst themselves, he continued, "Now, onto the rules. For you teams to pass this stage, you need 300 points to be safe and move on to the next round. Because to be honest, they are 128 teams here, but only half of you will move on. You are allowed to attack other teams for their items. You will notice that when you're searching, that there will be Pokémon Rescue Teams out in the square and in the woods. They are there to make sure that no teams move items so that others cannot get them or that battling teams don't go overboard on fighting."

To conclude, he then said, "Now, as you leave, your team leader will be given a name of a place either in the woods or the square as well as a bag to hold your items. That's where your team will start off. The hunt will begin when a siren is played. It will play again to signal when the hunt is over. Once that happens, you are to stop what you're doing and immediately come back here for your points to be added or you can come back at any time that you've completed over 300 points so that you'll pass and remain safe. Until then, good luck."

As everyone clapped and cheered and the teams started to head over to the exit, Austin turned to me and offered a fist-bump. I grinned and fist-bumped as the others of both our teams smiled.

"Good luck, Thomas," he said smiling, "I better see you in the next stage!"

"I promise, Austin," I said grinning, "Good luck!"

-


	69. Chapter 69

Once Team C-12 had left for their starting spot, Sasuke had walked over towards the line that the leaders had formed to get their starting spots and item **bags**. It was only a minute before Sasuke had come back and held a piece of paper. He slowly smiled and nodded to us.

"All right, we got our starting spot," he said to us.

"So, where is it?" Zev asked.

"According to the paper, it says that we're starting at the Pelipper Post Office," my brother looked at the paper and said.

"All right, then. We better head out there as quickly as we can," Batsu said as we all nodded and hurried to our starting point.

-

It had been five minutes since we had gotten to the starting point, and all we did was wait for the siren to **start** us off. We had not even said a word since we got there, but wait patiently for it to go off. But then, King slowly started to fidget with his arm and then turned to Sasuke. It was then I started to **deduce** King hated silence…

"So, Sasuke," he said, catching everyone's attention, "How are we going to go about doing this hunt?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sasuke said, looking at him.

"You know, how are we gonna find the items, are we gonna attack other teams, that sort of stuff," the Charmeleon explained.

"Hmm, that is a good thing to bring up, and it's best we start to figure out before we start. Well, I guess we start with finding items. We need somebody to hold the item bag and collect them when we find them. While they do that, we all protect him," Sasuke said.

"I think Zev should be the item collector," I suggested, "I mean, he's the faster one and he can get items if they're in hard to reach places for the rest of us. Not to mention, he's the fastest and more agile out of all of us."

Zev smirked as he offered to take the bag and said, "I guess I'll be your almighty item collector if you want me to."

Sasuke smiled and gave the bag to him, "All right, Zev, we're counting on you. We'll give you the proper defense and protection as you go get the items."

"All right, now onto enemy teams," King asked, "What's our plan on them?"

"Well, are we talking about them attacking us, or the other way around?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's start with other way around," Batsu said, "To be honest, I feel that it's a waste of time battling other teams for their items. Sure, that may give us more than just scouting and we might need to near the final minutes, but other teams will be scrambling to get their hands on the free items. I suggest we focus on the items hidden, and then if need be, fight other teams."

"I agree. That's the best thing than wasting time with other teams," Sasuke nodded and agreed, "Now, our strategy for teams attacking us. King, Batsu; you two are the **front lines**. You're in charge of keeping them away. My brothers and I will be the next defense and Zev our last line. Since you two are massiver powerhouses of strength and speed, we shouldn't have anyone getting through at all."

"Sweet! I'm already getting pumped now!" Naruto said, wagging his tail.

"Oh, but you're gonna be major to us, Naruto," Sasuke explained, catching the Poochyena off guard, "We may need your nose through this whole stage; not only for finding items, but for the lookout of nearby teams."

"Okay! You can count on me!" Naruto proudly stood up and wagged his tail, grinning his little head off.

"And the last thing, what are we gonna do for items? What are we aiming for?" King asked.

"To be honest, I think that really we shouldn't worry about points for the first few minutes," Zev said shrugging, "We should just cram what we can find in the bag. If it comes down to it, we can split up and look for items faster."

"No, we're not splitting up AT ALL," Sasuke said emphasized, "We don't know how powerful any of the other teams are, and I don't want to risk one of our members falling to a trap, especially you Zev, since you're the bag holder."

"But what if we become one big target?" I said, "I mean, it might not be a good idea for all of us to just stay in one area together the whole 20 minutes."

Sasuke said, "If that happens, we'll think of something then, but for no-"

It was then the siren went off loud and clear. We all stopped immediately and looked at Sasuke who nodded as the adrenaline went through all our bodies.

"All right! Let's move!" he yelled as we all bolted towards the square.

-

We basically entered the place and saw teams frantically start to grab items and heck, even attack each other. We looked as the battles were chaotic, even though they didn't attack the building and the teams controlling the chaos were there to keep order.

"We'll have no hope in getting points if we rush right into there, not to mention we could get lost," Batsu said.

"Then we'll have to go along the walls and borders for now!" Sasuke said, as he grabbed two blue crystals and a black one.

"Look, I found a red crystal!" Naruto exclaimed as I found a green one.

"Well, don't hang onto them! Put them in the bag!" Zev said, as he held it open wider for us.

We slowly went to the right and started to **continue** "scrapping the edges" of the place when we came across many blue, red, and white crystals. (Reminds me of that country called 'America' that Tucker said the teacher in Pokéschool claimed existed.) Anyways, Batsu and King went first to protect the group movement, Naruto and I followed them in order to attack or defend, and Sasuke stayed behind with Zev to protect the bag. We started to keep grabbing more and more until we started to get yellow crystals, which greatly improved our item total. It wasn't even seven minutes until we stopped to see a plush doll.

"All right, we found a plush doll!" Naruto said happily as he grabbed the Mudkip plush doll in his mouth and quickly shoved it in the bag.

"All right, sweet!" King said happily, "We've gotten more than half of 300 points and it's not even 'halftime' yet!"

"Hey, don't get cocky! We can get attacked at any moment, so be on guard," Sasuke warned us as he found another blue crystal.

"You're right! You should be on guard!" We heard a voice say to our right.

As I turned, I saw a Ivysaur fire Vine Whip at us at blistering speeds. King immediately stepped in front of the attacked and burned it back with a simple Ember. He grinned at the Ivysaur, who gritted his teeth at the pain as a Marowak, Gastly, and Spearow slowly appear behind him.

"We'll be taking those items you got right now!" Marowak yelled as it slowly readied its bone.

"Oh, is that right?" King grinned as he slowly advanced at him, "Well then, you better be prepared to back up that loud of a mouth."

"You… so you're King, C of Team A.C.T's brother… this will be such an honor taking away your items away!" the Marowak said as he charged at him.

"So you know who I am and you still wanna challenge me? Bad decision," King grinned as he readied a Fire Punch.

But just as he was about to strike his fist with Marowak's bone, Batsu had run right behind our teammate and kicked the back of his feet, knocking him off balance. King immediately yelped and slowly went down, dramatically missing his target, yet at the same time, causing Marowak to miss and be completely open. As King went down on his back, the Riolu swiftly charged an Aura Sphere and fired multiple shots, forcing the ground-type enemy back. The Ivysaur shot a Razor Leaf attack at the last Aura Sphere, causing it to explode and us to have a stand-off.

King gritted his teeth angrily at Batsu and with a hilariously angry face yelled, "H-HEY, BATSU, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?"

Batsu stayed in a fighting stance and kept his sights on the other team as he replied, "You know as well as I do that you're useless against ground-type. Please stay back."

King's head dropped in defeat as I rubbed my head, "Oh, right, fire-types aren't really effective against ground-types, aren't they?"

King glared at me and mouthed 'shut up' as he jumped up and was ready next to Batsu.

"Doesn't matter if you're strong. We're still gonna take those items whether you like it or not!" Spearow said grinning.

"Can't say that until you've done it! Let's do this!" Naruto said, as we all got ready to rumble.

-


	70. Chapter 70

After Naruto had said that, Marowak and Spearow charged at the group on a frontal assault. Zev immediately jumped back into a defensive position as I helped him as well in the back. Sasuke and Naruto guarded us as King and Batsu charged forward. Marowak smirked as he slowly swing his club at the Charmeleon. As King gasped and saw the attack coming, he was forced to put his arms up in defense. The bone smashed into his arms, making him yell in pain as he felt the hard impact. Batsu immediately saw King hold his arms close to his body. Immediately realizing something could be terribly wrong, and seeing Marowak took the **opportunity** to swing at him again, he immediately placed his paw on the Charmeleon's body and flipped him over the opponent's swing. The injured teammate closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he flipped forward and away from Marowak. He rolled a bit and grunted as he trembled in pain and held his arms still.

Batsu had taken the club and with his left palm, blocked it with a strong strike upwards. Forcing the **momentum** of the blow to make Marowak's arm go up and back, making him completely open, the Riolu took his right palm and used Force Palm on his chest, hitting him and forcing him to go backwards. As Marowak was sent flying back, Spearow had flew past him and started to advance closer. King opened an eye painfully and growled, firing a Flame Wheel attack at it. The Spearow smirked and dodged the attack with ease as our poor teammate gritted his teeth, lying on the ground.

But Naruto was ready as he used Shadow Ball on the oncoming enemy. The Spearow barely dodged the attack as Sasuke immediately noticed where it was heading.

"Zev! Thomas! He's coming right at you!" he warned us.

Zev immediately held the **bag** close to his body and said, "Thomas, I'm gonna be counting on you to help me. I'm weak against him, but this guy is up your alley!"

I nodded as he stood my ground at the incoming enemy. I charged up electricity in my right arm and then electricity cackled through my limb. I aimed my punch at the Spearow as it tried to do a spinning Peck attack at me. As we came into contact, I got a **bit nervous** and my arm charged dangerously. It exploded as my fist and the peck collided. It knocked me back and sent negative electricity through me, hurting me a bit. As I landed, the Spearow grunted and flew a ways away before gently landing and being paralyzed.

Batsu had followed up on his attack on Marowak and had rushed at him laying on the ground. Marowak was still on the ground from the last attack and had opened his eyes to see Batsu over him with his right leg high in the air, about to try a kick down on him. The opponent gasped and rolled backwards, causing my teammate to miss. But since it took him too long to get up, the opponent was on a disadvantage for the Riolu to keep his offense up. He took his palms and tried a double palm attack, but the Marowak was able to block with his club. But Batsu was then able to bring his **left knee** up, knocking the club out of Marowak's hands. As the enemy was caught surprised, Batsu stepped forward and smashed his right arm and elbow into Marowak, knocking him back again.

King (God love him) was still on the ground, holding his arms close to his body in a way that looked like he was hugging himself. He was clamping his eyes shut in pain as he grunted. But suddenly, a Vine Whip attack wrapped around his mouth, tying it shut, and also wrapping his arms tight around his body. King was barely able to look at the Ivysaur, who slowly began to pull him towards him. He helplessly moaned in pain as he tried to struggle, but because his arms were badly injured and his mouth was tied up, it looked bad for him as he closed his eyes. Luckily, Sasuke had seen him and immediately looked at Naruto.

"You stay strong here and help Thomas," he said as he rushed over.

As Naruto ran over and helped me up, and using the speed he used back at the alcove, he immediately was in the face of the Ivysaur. Catching the opponent off guard, he used Sonicboom, which was a direct hit to the face. It knocked the Ivysaur back and caused it to let go of King. As the Charmeleon grunted in pain, Sasuke helped him up gently and held him close.

"Stay right next to me, buddy. I got you," he said kindly.

"Ahh.. Th-Thanks…" King winced.

He slowly lead him back as Gastly was about to try a move, but then a huge Water Gun attack was fired. It dodged it as our group was able to regroup as well as the other team's. We looked to see a Dewott, a Axew, and a Combusken coming over.

"Hey! Let's get their crystals! Hurry!" the Dewott shouted.

"Ugh, this isn't good. The team we fought was too bad of a gamble. Gaster, use Smokescreen!" the Marowak ordered.

"Sasuke! Let's get out of here too!" Naruto yelled as we all turned.

"Right! Let's move it!" Sasuke ordered as the Gastly used Smokescreen, just as the other group came over and we made our perfect getaway.

-

It had been close to twelve minutes since we started and we all gathered in a hiding place near the pond. We were all circled around King, who was being checked for his arms. He grunted in pain as he was forced to make his arms go straight and Batsu and Sasuke began to check them. He slowly winced a bit as he clamped his eyes shut.

"Well, King, the good news is that you don't have broken arms," Sasuke said, trying to be encouraging, "but you do have some massive bruises on your arms."

"D-Dang…. Rrrrgh…. It hurts way too much…" King gritted his teeth, "I-I'm trying to be tough, but this is pushing it…"

"Sasuke, I don't think it would be good to be involved in any more battles. Maybe we have to call it quits and go to the pond to end our hunt," Batsu said.

"But how much do we have?" Naruto said, tilting his head.

"Zev, how much do we have in the bag?" Sasuke asked.

After a few minutes of counting, Zev slowly sighed at us and shook his head by telling us, "We only have 261 points. We need 39 more."

"But we can't! We can't risk King getting more injured than he already is," Sasuke said, looking at him.

"No… Y-you can't put my needs in front of the whole g-group… p-please, Sasuke," King begged for the only time I would probably ever hear.

I sighed as I sat back and felt bad. I know that King wanted to continue, but I was siding with Sasuke on this. We couldn't risk him getting his arms permanently hurt. But I felt bad that we, the most watched team, were going to lose in the first stage. As I leaned back, I felt… something on my hand. I immediately sat up and looked behind me.

"…OH NO WAY!" I shouted with a smile.

All of them looked at me as I turned around and showed that I had found an ipod in my hands. All of them slowly smiled and got excited.

"Oh, my gosh! We got one!" Naruto cheered.

"Then, what are we waiting for? We need to get to the pond immediately! Let's head over there now!" Sasuke said with a smile as we (while helping King) immediately turned the corner to the pond to pass the first stage of the exams.

-


	71. Chapter 71

Finally able to get into the pond without getting noticed, we quickly went to the middle of the pond where a few exam staff, not to mention Arcanine, was talking. As we kept moving there, we saw that also a few other teams (around seven or eight) had finished and were waiting for the time to go up. We slowly came into their view as Arcanine smiled at us and walked over. I could tell Naruto wanted to socialize with him badly, but right now with one of our teammates hurt, it wasn't the time.

"Well, well, it seems that my feelings were right. I just knew that you two would pass the first part of the exams," he said to us.

"Sir, we're very honored that you believe in us and had faith that we'd come through, but right now, we need medical help for one of our members," Sasuke said urgently.

"Certainly. What's wrong?" Arcanine said, looking at all of us until he laid his eyes on King.

Still clutching his arms close to his body, the Charmeleon grunted as Sasuke slowly led him forward.

Batsu said, "We were attacked by a team with a Marowak in it. Our member was forced into a position where he had to block the Marowak's clubs with his arms. Ever since that, his arms have been in pain."

"Oooh... I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but most injuries aren't that pretty when it comes to a club of a Marowak," Arcanine said, "We're gonna need to make sure his arms are properly checked up upon."

With that, he turned to a Chansey and called, "Nurse! We need your assistance!"

The Chansey immediately hurried over and once told the whole incident, signaled for us to follow her as she said, "Here, please follow me and I'll see what I can do for you."

-

We all watched as King stood in front of a cushioned exam table and had his arms laid out straight in front of him. He was gritting his teeth in now intense pain as he looked at Chansey, who was behind a machine.

"Now, please hold still. I'm going to get an x-ray of your arms to see what the problem is," she said as he nodded.

"Just be calm, King. You'll be fine," Sasuke said, encouraging him.

King nodded and winced as we could see a bright white light slowly go over his arms. After a few times of it going back and forth, the light disappeared and Chansey came back with these little black pads. She then looked over at Sasuke, who nodded and stood up. He signaled for us to follow as we all came over.

"Well, I've checked over his arms and there is an injury on both arms that you will need to monitor," she said, "Even thought the wonderful news is that there is no broken bones or fracture at all, the impact seemed to hit his elbows pretty hard. So, because the club that he was hit with was stronger, it did some pretty bad damage to that area of his arms."

King nods as he grunted, "Uuraah... W-Would that explain why it hurts less when I bend my arms?"

"Yes. Because your arms were bent when you were struck, it will feel more comfortable for a while to have your arms bent," she said, "In fact, for several days, your arms are gonna hurt if you straighten them in any way."

"Several days? But that means King can't afford to risk being in danger of further injuring himself," Zev said.

"N-No...! I can't... oww... I can't just leave this exam and the team because of this stupid pain..." King said.

"Which is why I have the solution," Chansey said as she revealed that the black things in her hands were elbow pads, "Now, I need you to move your arms just for a second..."

"Here, Batsu, let's help him," Sasuke said.

King slowly turned as Sasuke and Batsu gently walked over and held his arms. He grunted as the nurse slowly took the first pad and slowly but carefully moved it towards his elbow. As she slowly put it on the elbow and began tightening it, King's face started to look less disturbed and he began to breathe easily.

"Hey... my left arm doesn't hurt badly anymore..." he started to smile.

"Excellent," Chansey said smiling, "That was exactly what I hoped for. These pads will put enough pressure on the elbows to prevent pain. All you need to do is keep them on for at least a week, and soon, your arms will be back to normal."

And with a few more seconds and the other pad on, King grinned as his arms were let go and he threw a few punches. He laughed as I smiled at him. Looks like those pads really helped him block the pain and made him happy. For some reason, it made me happy to see him uplifted after that huge incident.

"Thank you so much!" the Charmeleon said loudly to Chansey, "This is great!"

"You're welcome," she said chuckling, "I'm so glad you're okay and happy with this."

"Is there any way we can repay you for this?" Sasuke smiled and asked.

"No, no, please don't. It's what I live for and I am always happy to help any Pokémon in need," she said with a smile.

"Wow, your pads are really super cool, King!" Naruto said, closely looking at them.

King smirked as he showed them off by flexing his muscles. I had to admit; although he only wore those for a little while, they did look good on him. It was sort of a shiny black leather type of material that you see those cool guys with leather jackets like bikers and bullies wear.

"All right, guys. We're done here. Let's see if they're done totaling our amount left," Sasuke said.

"Huh? Wait, they've been counting our items while we've been in here?" I asked.

"Yeah, they took the bag as we escorted King in here, remember?" Naruto reminded me.

"So, soon, they should be done with the total; no matter, we have enough to pass, so we're pretty much in," Zev said smiling.

"All right. Let's get make sure we are in then," Sasuke said as we all headed out.

-

As we came outside, we had noticed at least a couple of teams had joined the pond area and completed the stage. We then saw a certain Charmander run at us with a crying face. It was Pyro again, and it seemed that he was coming for King. We watched our teammate smile lovingly at him as he bent down to his little brother's height and opened his arms up to catch him, hugging him tight. While he was doing that, Sasuke had gone over to the table that counted the items.

"B-Big brother!" Pyro cried loudly as he snuggled into him.

"Shh... It's okay... I'm here..." King said smiling and rubbing his back.

"A-Are you okay, big brother? I heard you got your arms hurt..." Pyro's tears rolled down his face as he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," King said, "I got these elbow pads that I gotta wear for now until I'm fully healed. Don't worry; your big brother is going to be fine."

I smiled at King as he kept reassuring Pyro that he would be perfectly fine. It made me happy to see that no matter how rash and impatient King was, he was a great brother towards his little sibling. This just proved that even someone that acts rude and mean can really be a good guy. I mean, sure, this guy did hurt me and keeps making fun of me like calling me a "pipsqueak", but I guess I can really deal with it.

"Hey, Thomas, look," I was nudged by my brother Naruto as he teased, "Looks like Zoey and her team made it too."

He pointed to Team Lightgale slowly make it to the pond as they were helping Carter towards Chansey's place. It looked like he got hit with a massive water attack and was behind helped by Marco towards the area. Leroy and Zoey were following right behind them. Naruto grinned at me with his tail wagging as I gave him a glare.

"She could use some support, don't ya think?" he winked at me.

"No, she doesn't. It's not my right to just butt in when it's her team's problems," I said.

"Oh, come on. Every girl needs a good guy to be right there with her," Naruto nudged me with his head, trying to push me over there.

"Stop it!" I snapped at him as I pushed back on his head, causing him to laugh at me.

Around that time, Sasuke had come back with our bag and Pyro had cheered up, saying good-bye and wishing King good luck. The bag was empty and he walked past us to drop it off in a box that said "drop off". He came back and smiled at us.

"We've passed and we're moving on!" he said happily.

We all cheered and celebrated in our own way as Naruto asked, "So, brother, what happened to our items?"

"Well, it was interesting what they said they would do with them. They explained that if there wasn't 64 teams with enough items to pass, the extra items other teams collected would go to the next highest total teams so there would be 64 teams that have 300 points," Sasuke explained.

"But we still get to keep that human device, right?" Zev asked.

"Only if we pass the exams," Sasuke said.

"Then we better make sure we do. I really want to see what that thing can do," the Grovyle said smiling.

"Me too. It looks very interesting," Batsu had said, while as I close this chapter, you-know-who hid his face and started to chuckle to himself.

-


	72. Chapter 72

As the **final** minutes of the whole first stage of the exam counted down, we watched more and more teams come towards the pond area. There were still quite a few minutes left, but around the time that it was coming to, soon this thing would be over. Once we were finally able to rest and relax, Arcanine came over again to be able to **chat**.

"Now that King has been perfectly taken care of, I'm finally able to talk to you. And I would like to **start** by saying that I congratulate you on passing this first stage," he said smiling.

"Thank you so much," Sasuke said and smiled, "We really feel proud to keep going in this exam."

"I'm glad you feel that way. Being a Rescue Team is a big responsibility, but an even bigger honor," Arcanine said as he then realized that a certain Poochyena was wagging his tail and panting loudly, "And am I to assume that this little guy is Naruto?"

"Ah, he knows my name!" Naruto said happily in a fanboyism kind of way.

"Heehee, yup!" I said grinning, "This is Naruto, and apparently he's a fan of yours."

"A fan? A FAN!? I'm a HUGE fan of yours!" Naruto jumped up and barked happily.

"Well, it's a wonderful priviledge to meet a fan of mine. I'm guessing since we still have about several minutes that you want to talk with me?" the wise Pokémon said to him.

It was then that Naruto's face just seem to light up incredibly as his eyes sparkled brightly with excitement. Sasuke and I smiled at our brother getting so excited about the chance to speak with his idol. He barked happily as he nodded super fast. Arcanine laughed as Naruto walked over quickly and kept staring at him loyally.

"I'll take that as a yes, little one," he said, "I'd be flattered to talk with you for a bit. Come with me."

So with that, Naruto left with Arcanine for a little while to talk while we stayed put. As that happened, in a bit of a coincidence, Elek and his wife Arty happened to be checking on who had passed the first exam. We were alerted by their presence when the Articuno spoke to us.

"Oh, wonderful! Elek, Team Believers passed the first stage! They're right over here," she said, walking with him as they approached us.

"I knew deep down they would. **Congratulations**, Team Believers. Well done," Elek clapped, praising us.

"Thank you so much, Elek," Sasuke said smiling, "It was a bit frightening during the hunt, and even King got injured badly during it."

"But I'm perfectly fine as long as I wear this elbow pads the nurse gave me," King immediately added so the Blaziken and his wife didn't worry.

"That's great to hear. So, my wife has a question for you though," Elek said, smirking a bit.

"Did you happen to be in the slightest chance one of the six teams that got one of those human **devices**?" Arty asked impatiently.

"Lemme guess. You want it for your research?" Zev smiled as he folded his arms.

"Yes, it might be very crucial to my research about the humans. If I could just maybe take a look at it or how it functions, I could learn some crucial stuff about the culture of the society they once dwelled in," she said, speaking all smart and researchery (I know that's not a word, but that's pretty much the perfect way to say it).

"Well, the rules are that teams that only pass the exam fully can keep them, but I bet I can get it for maybe a few minutes for you," Batsu said, "Please excuse me as I go check."

To be completely honest with a lot of you reading this, I kind of got a bit nervous to be around Arty. I mean, she wanted to examine an ipod device: something I knew everything about. It made me a bit insane because I wanted to say what the machine was or how to use it, but that would blow my cover and I pretty much would be at the mercy of this whole world. Even Sasuke gave me a bit of a glance that said "Don't say anything; act unknowing". After a tiny bit, the Riolu came back with the device. With a gentle swipe and thank you said, Arty began to look at it.

"Hmm... it appears you turn it on with this button... and... Oh, I see!" she said smiling.

"Huh? Did you already figure something out?" Zev asked, blinking.

"Yeah, it seems that this device is a holder of music that they used to play. And it appears that you can file certain songs in band names so you can find it better. Hmmm... this one is called... Me... Metal...ica... Metal-ica," she said.

Now, I do not listen to that band, but even I know how to pronouce their name. So, unconsciously, my human side accidentally snuck out of my mouth and made me mutter.

"It's Metallica," I said quietly.

However, it appeared that even that wasn't quiet enough for the others to hear, especially Arty herself (DANG IT). She immediately perked her head up and looked at me as I was currently looking at my left side. This dumb act of mine would be the start of a constant back and forth battle between me and her.

"Wait, what? What did you say?" she asked, suddenly interested in what I said.

"I... um..." I tried to say, as Sasuke gave me a worried look, "I was thinking that the weird name could be prounced 'Metal-icka' or 'Metallica'."

"Hmmm, you sure about that? You sounded like you know what it is," Arty said, raising an eyebrow.

"Honey, I doubt that a Pikachu teenager would secretely know a human music band name," Elek said, trying to calm his wife down.

"Yeah, the pipsqueak knowing something as important and mystifying as that?" King said, grinning and shaking his head, "There's no way."

"Quiet, you!" Arty snapped at him, actually bonking his head with her wing, "That doesn't rule out how he looked like he might've known something. As a researcher, You need to accept the possibility of anything happening."

"But I don't know anything about humans!" I said, sadly lying.

"...All right, then," Arty said, nodding to me as she handed the device back to Batsu, and he took it back.

I was a bit comforted that she dropped the issue about the ipod for a bit, but the way she looked at me and just had an air around me definitely hinted at the fact that she was not letting the fact go that I COULD know something. Luckily, Elek would be there, but that's spoilers and I don't like those.

It was then that I heard a familiar voice call behind me by saying, "Yes, Thomas! I knew you'd make it into here!"

I turned to see Austin come over and high-five me with a grin. He chuckled as I walked over a to him after excusing myself from the group. We high-fived and then began to have a conversation.

"Thanks, it's good to see you made it as well!" I said grinning too.

"It was a bit hard to collect the crystals on the hunt, but we did manage to get a human device and two plush dolls that helped massively," he said with a sigh.

"Huh? You had trouble finding crystals? But they were the most common item to find," I said, raising an eyebrow at that statement.

Austin began to explain, "Well, we did find crystals, but the problem is tha-"

"NOOO! MINE! SHINY THINGS ARE MINE!"

We turned to see that Mia was holding a bag of items and covering it with her body, hissing at the staff who were in charge of collecting the items. Alyssa was hiding her face in shame a bit as she blushed. Upon hearing that, Mia reminded me of Molly. (Yeah, remember her? One of the trainers from Kilyla City long ago?)

"Mia, let go of the crystals! They're not yours; they belong to the staff here!" she pleaded embarrassingly to her friend.

It was then Austin turned to me and gave me a smirk as he said, "Once again, Mia can't seem to let go of shiny things..." which caused me to laugh out loud.

"Well, at least we both passed, but now comes the harder part," I said sighing.

"I know, the written test," Austin said nodding, "I heard that it's extremely difficult, that the question will be pretty advanced material."

"Oh, very true, young man," I heard yet another familiar voice say.

We both looked to see Tony again walking towards us with a grin. It seemed that he was about ready to kick off the second part of the exam. It was at the exact same moment the siren went off, signaling that the hunt was over and everyone would be back in the pond shortly.

"Hah, all right! Finally, this stage is over and I'll get my turn!" Tony said excitedly as he looked at us, "Better get with your teams, you two. This is going to get really good in a little bit."

-


	73. Chapter 73

As the siren rang again, Elek and Arty had said their good-byes as they left for us to **continue**. With that. it wasn't too long that the pond area was packed with everybody again and Naruto had come back from his **chat** with his idol. He had to hurry for a tiny bit and actually dash to where we were, because of the giant horde almost consuming him in his haste. He sighed as he smiled at us.

"That was so amazing! Arcanine is so much more cooler than I thought he would be!" he said, wagging his little tail.

"Watch it, dork. Your fanboyism is coming off of you like body odor," King teased.

"Dork?!" Naruto said, growling at him.

"Yeah, like how I call Tommy 'pipsqueak'," King said grinning.

"...Tommy? Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, you guys, focus. We really don't need useless babbling right now," Zev said, rolling his eyes as he sighed in an unimpressed manner.

"Okay, okay," I said, waving it off, "but I am worried about the test. I mean, do you really think it could be very hard?"

"To be honest, I don't have any idea, but I'm guessing we're going to have some challenging questions. But they shouldn't be anything you, King, and Zev haven't studied for," Sasuke answered.

"I'm a bit nervous to be honest," I said, rubbing my head.

"It's okay to be nervous, but just don't doubt yourself," Batsu said to me.

"May I have your attention, please?" we heard Arcanine say, as the noise died out.

We, along with everyone there, turned to see the proctor sitting in front of the pond with a smile on his face.

"Thank you all, and **congratulations** to all the teams that manage to pass the first stage! You should be proud to know that thanks to your strategies and teamwork, you have shown why you should continue in this exam. Your courage fighting many teams and your expert **work** to find hidden items and 'clients' were extremely good. To all the teams that did not make it, please don't lose hope and confidence. It doesn't mean you are weak or not worthy; it means that you can improve greater and come back when you are more qualified. So, please never forget what has happened today and use this to keep striving forward," Arcanine said, "Now, all the teams that did not pass, please exit the pond area and feel free to visit anything of the square. Your rooms and services will be free for the next two days. All the teams that passed, please stay here as your second proctor will soon be ready. Thank you all and have a good day."

As the cheering and applauding ceased after a while, half of the amount that was in the pond left and gave us more room to maneuver. We looked around to see a certain Typhlosion **start** to come over towards the beginning of the pond. But before he spoke, I decided to take a special look around the area. It had seemed that the teams we had met before all were there. Team Bui-Power were together near the pond water. I could see little Holt playing with the water as Draco and Ryoshi made sure he did it quietly, while Team Memory was nearby, standing quietly as Karine kept glancing over at Batsu. To the left near the entrance was Team Lightgale. Carter was okay; a bit bandaged, but the whole team looked ready for the next part of the exam. And in front of them was Team C-12, all smiling as Mia secretely had stolen a crystal and played with it. But unfortunately, when I looked behind me, Team Meanies had also passed. And when I looked at then, Gengar saw me and chuckled at me with his evil grin. I jerked back a bit in fear and then gave him a bit of a mean glare. I turned around to see Naruto look at me with a look of concern. He nodded to me and leaned into me, giving me comfort as I grinned at the feel of his fur on mine.

It was then that suddenly I felt a little ticklish feeling near my right ribs. It didn't make me start to giggle, but it did tickle a bit. I suddenly smirked to see Naruto have the most cheerful and innocent smile on his face as he looked at me and his tail purposely kept using the tip to tickle my ribs. That little goober! The second proctor is about to announce the next stage. And here he is, trying to tickle me! Therefore, instead of constantly fight with him to knock it off, I decided to treat him to the same thing. I then moved my tail towards his left ribs and made it tickle him back. He then giggled softly as his eyes clamped shut. We then struggled to remain quiet as we tickled each other and Tony came out.

"All right, listen up, you maggots!" Tony said, as he walked in front of the teams, "Eyes front and center!"

Both Naruto and I were jerked out of our tickling trances and stopped as the interrogator spoke. He glared angrily with a smirk on his face as he folded his arms and flared his blue flames out. He then laughed out loud and began to speak.

"Welcome to the second stage, but don't expect me to be all gentle like Arcanine. My name's Tony, and from here, I'm your proctor and your worst nightmare..." he said, quite grimly.

For such a happy go-lucky guy, I can see now why they put him as an interrogator. Man, he can switch personalities and be really freaking scary in a blink of an eye. Some of the teams went dead silent and pale just by that introduction. He then pointed behind him to his right, revealing that there was a little pathway that went up a huge steep way to get above, near the waterfall's height.

"You're to go up that pathway and follow it until you get to a white building with a Rescue Badge statue in front of it. That is where the second stage of the exam will occur in. When you get there," Tony explained, then showing a piece of paper that said 'number' on it, "You'll be handed a number. That's where you will be sitting. From the door to the left, bottom to top rows, is where you will sit. Now get moving, or you'll fail if you slack off!"

-

Well, after that wonderful and kind introduction from the ever-so-polite gentleman Tony, we end up in the grey, boring, and dull test room, in DEAD silence. I was number 43, so I was in the second middle row. In front of every seat number, there was a test sheet and a pencil. There were at least two rows of pew-connected benches that had one on the left, one in the middle, and one on the right. So in the end, there were 36 benches and usually ten Pokémon were at each bench. I couldn't even see where the others were sitting... I was alone... man, this was going to be a complete disaster...

"Oh, hey, Thomas!" I heard a cheerful voice say as my left ear twitched.

I looked over to see that Holt was sitting next to me and looked at me with his cute face. He was doing that little kid 'rock-your-head' movement with his head to each side. His tail wagged cutely.

"Oh, Holt. I didn't see you there. Good to see you, little guy!" I said happily.

"I'm really excited, Thomas! I've never done a test before, but I bet it's fun!" Holt said, having such the kind of naïve innocence I wish I had still.

"I'm sure you will do good too," we heard a familiar voice say too.

We looked past my right to see Zoey sitting next to me, and Alyssa next to her. Both smiled as they waved to us and Zoey blushed.

"Zoey! Alyssa! Great to see you!" I said smiling happily, but then noticed a certain girl start to blush at me.

"Hey, I hope that you do good on the test," Zoey said as she smiled back.

"Let's all hope we do good. I feel that there's a reason that they separated us from our teams and put us in different areas," Alyssa said.

"Hmm... maybe because they want to discourage cheating?" I asked, proposing an idea as Holt looked for his team.

"But that wouldn't make sense. The seats on the bench are so close together, we can see each other's test just by looking to our side," Alyssa said, confused.

"So, what do you think they're trying to pull here?" I asked as we looked around so more.

Suddenly, the door opened and a bunch of Pokémon came in with chairs. Then, one Pokémon with one chair sat on each side of the room on the left and right. So, two chairs would be filled watching three rows. Among them was Zeke, the Lucario that stood up for me back when Lucario and Batsu were on my back. He slowly looked around the room, and once he saw me, gave me a smile and nodded to me. As I nodded back, Tony came to the front of the room, which had a chalkboard and banged his fist on it.

"All right, the lot of you better listen up! I'm about to explain this whole test thing!" he yelled aloud.

-


	74. Chapter 74

MRA: BEFORE I BEGIN THIS CHAPTER, WE WANNA POINT TWO THINGS OUT BEFORE YOU GO ON. NOW, THE NEXT PART OF THIS STORY WILL BE A BIT BASED OFF OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO'S NARUTO. I DON'T KNOW IF USING AN IDEA OF HIS IS STEALING, BUT I WANNA TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SAY I GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR THE ORIGINAL IDEA NOW SO I DON'T GET IN TROUBLE.

Thomas: AND THE SECOND THING IS THAT SINCE I TALKED WITH ALL OF THE MEMBERS, IT IS OKAY WITH THEM IF DURING THE **TEST**, YOU CAN SEE WHAT THEY THINK AS WELL AS ME. SO, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE THEIR REACTIONS TOO.

Both: NOW BEGIN!

-

Tony picked up a piece of chalk and then tapped the chalkboard multiple times to get our attention.

"Before you begin this test, there are a few rules you need to know first," Tony said, looking at all of us with a grumpy look, "And I'm not repeating myself or answering any questions, so you better **listen** the first time around!"

Now, I didn't know where what numbers they had or the other team's **location**, but I do know that King was in the row behind me to my left, Zev was in the last seat in the upper left, Naruto in the fourth right row, Sasuke was in the middle left section somewhere, and Batsu was actually next to him. It was then King raised an eyebrow and jerked his head up with a look that said 'what, you serious?'

"Wait, no questions? What the heck kind of rules are these?" he thought.

I mean, it should be the teacher's **job** to explain and answer questions that any of the test-takers need to have answered. But, then again, this is a proctor... and TONY of all proctors, so just asking him that would probably get me embarrassed beyond a recognition of a doubt. So, I sighed and nodded as he continued.

Tony began to write on the chalkboard as he began to explain, "Here are the rules. Rule number one: the test is being constructed on a point reduction system. Contrary to some of you who have experienced in the past with Rescue Team **Training School**, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points."

He moved out of the way to reveal he should an example of the test and the rest of the rules that I will tell to you as I keep telling the story.

"One point will be deducted for each question you get incorrectly. So, that means if you missed two, your final score will be eight," he said.

Ahh, okay... so it made sense to me now. So, I decided that since I'm not really a scholar of any type or know really anything about Pokémon, I would aim for getting at least six of them right, so that way I could get a good average score.

Tony put down the chalk and then continued, "Rule number two: Teams will either move on or be eliminated based on the total scores of all team members."

That was a shocker. You mean we're getting graded as a team? Wow, that means this makes the test ever more challenging than I thought it would be originally. I could see Holt, Zoey, and Alyssa reflect on that as there was some talking amongst the groups as suddenly a female Torchic stood up and yelled.

"What!? What do you mean? You're saying all the members are being graded together!?" she yelled.

"Shut up!" Tony said, causing her to sit back down and be quiet, "I have a reason why these rules are being enforced. Now be quiet and listen to the rest."

"Reasons? You mean there's something we need to abide by these? Hmmm..." Sasuke thought as he listened closely.

"Rule number three: as you can see, there are multiple sentinels sitting on the sides of the room and are there to watch you for any signs of rescue teams cheating. And for any sight of cheating they catch, they'll take two points away from the culprit's score," Tony said grinning.

"Sheesh... they make all sorts of ways where you can lose points," Zev rolled his eyes and thought.

"Only a two point deduction...? Why not a dismissal immediately?" Batsu pondered, perking his head up after hearing the third rule.

"Be warned, that their eyes are incredibly sharp and that even only from one side, they can catch any movement of your body. Remember that although every incident of cheating the spot they take two points off, if they catch you five times, you lose all points and you'll be dismissed before the tests are even graded," Tony warned.

I took the time to look around at the sentinels around the room. Although they were different types and shapes, they all looked like they were incredibly skilled at analysis and each had a clipboard and pencil for each. My eyes just looked back at Zeke, as he looked at me and showed a clipboard and pencil in his paws. He smiled a tiny bit as he then sat back in his chair.

"Anyone who gets caught by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. Your rescue teams should find the answers perfectly, and should also find the hidden meanings. Sometimes, you must see through deception and find the true meaning. Show us what incredible teams you can be," Tony said smiling.

"Okay... so, Sasuke and Batsu will pass this perfectly, and even the dork should be fine... so even if Zev, the pipsqueak, or myself get a bad score or even get a zero, we should get past this without a hitch," King thought, nodding with a smirk.

"Wow... they really pulled out all the stops here..." Naruto thought as he lowered his ears a bit.

I rubbed my head as I took a deep breath. My heart started to race a bit as I looked at the test paper. This part of the exam seemed so hard, and if you know my past, I've never taken a test before. Just looking at it, I could just seem to feel this would be so mind-aching. I sighed as Tony then grinned and said something that made everyone become shocked and pale up.

"Rule number four: if any member of any team gets a zero on this test, then your entire team fails!"

My body felt suddenly cold as I slowly raised my hands to my face. Burying it in them, I leaned against the table and began to shake a bit in nervousness. There's no way I'm gonna pass this now. Oh, gosh, they're gonna kill me...

King gritted his teeth and directed his attention at me as he groaned and thought, "Oh, great... the pipsqueak's freaking out... this is gonna be a pain in the neck..."

"Gesume crow... are they trying to make us all fail?" Zev said, as he narrowed his gaze at the proctor.

"W-Wow... I knew the test would be difficult, but not this much..." Naruto pondered as he looked down at his test paper.

"Thomas... Naruto... please, be okay and do your best..." Sasuke hoped for us as he looked at us from the back and Batsu simply seemed completely calm about the whole ideal.

As I was secretly beginning to fear in all honest completely, I felt a paw touch my right shoulder as Zoey looked at me with concern. I raised my head up and saw her honestly look baffled yet compassionate at me as I felt my body calm down.

"Thomas... are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah... just a bit shaken up by these rules," I said, slightly smiling.

"These rules are so tough..." Alyssa ended up muttering unconsciously.

"I'm starting to think that this exam is no fun anymore..." Holt whined.

"Now, the final rule. Rule number five: You will notice that although this is a ten question test, that there is only nine questions on your paper," Tony said.

I blinked as I picked up my test paper. The three sitting next to me looked on as I noticed that there was four questions on the front, and five on the back. We all looked confusedly at each other as we then turned our attention to our proctor to explain this.

"The final question will not be released until the final ten minutes. You will have one hour total to complete this exam," he said, and watching a black clock near the door for it to hit 11:00 am exactly, he then turned to us and said something that got us into it.

"BEGIN!"

(But on a side note... I began to feel a question pop up... Why does this test seem so familiar...?)

-


	75. Chapter 75

The room was suddenly filled with the sound of **pencils** writing on top of desks and papers being shifted as they were looked at. Everyone dived into their tests as I began to realize one of the reasons I never went to school. I know they're not doing it on purpose to be rotten or anything, but that noise was extremely annoying of hearing pencils constantly tap on the desks while the test-takers wrote stuff down.

King picked up his pencil and took a deep breath as he stared at the test. He gulped in a bit of nervousness as he then calmed down.

"Okay, King, this is it, man. This is where you show your stuff... just don't blow it, pipsqueak," he thought as he looked at me, "Get at least one of these things right!"

Zev, although far in the back of the room, saw me as he sighed and thought, "Oh, man... they don't look good. Thomas and King are just sitting there..."

I had my **eyes closed** as suddenly a smile came across my face. I relaxed as I took a deep calming breath. Why was I letting this test get me down? After all, as long as I get a few right, I'm in the clear. As I picked my paper up and looked at the test, I figured that all I needed to do was read through the questions and take my time. No pressure at all. Just take it easy. With that, I looked at the first question. Hmmm... Okay, let's see. The first question said this:

"The Pokémon in trouble is trapped in Magma Cavern. What fire type is more suited to fight if the terrain is rocky and the opponent is three sizes larger than it: a Arcanine, a Chimchar, or a Magmar?"

…...Um, wouldn't they all have an equal shot? I mean, none are ground-types, right? And the three times its size thing really doesn't matter, cause each would have an opponent who's equally big for them to go around. And I've never been to Magma Cavern, so... I really couldn't understand the question, so I shook my head and skipped it. Okay, what's next? Question two:

"This code was intercepted from a team of rogue rescue members. It may contain clues to what their next plan of action is. With the use of your decipher skills that you learned from school, crack the code and write what the message says. Then, come up with the best way to stop whatever evil the code says will happen."

…...Okay, skip that one, because one: I never went to school and two: I'm not good at deciphering. Okay. Let's move onto the third question...

Zev happened to also be on the third question as he read in his head with a struggling look, "Line B in the diagram indicates the **trajectory** of an Aura Sphere shot at Enemy C from Lucario A seated at a tree 7.5 meters tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C was positioned at points D, E, and F. Also, predict the farthest possible range the attack can be shot at and describe how you arrived at your answer."

Sasuke blinked as he stared at four questions he got right and pondered, "I don't believe it. These are all intergrated questions based on principles of uncertainty, and require complex mechanical energy analysis. Incredibly advanced stuff..."

He looked up with a silent gasp at me and fearfully thought, "Oh, no. Thomas will never have a slight hope of solving any of these. In fact, there can't be more than a handful of Pokémon besides Batsu, myself, and possibly Naruto who barely can understand it."

And boy, was that the truth. I couldn't see it, but tons of candidates began to get frustrated, shake their heads, show some sort of annoyance on how the questions were advanced and difficult. Just by not looking, I could see that although they got some answers, Holt, Alyssa, and Zoey were having a hard time too. I kept staring at the questions as they kept getting harder and harder... wait... were they getting harder and harder...?

Naruto's ears **lowered** as he thought, "Each question is more difficult than the one before... it's like they purposely made it that way..."

Zev frustratedly chuckled to himself and gritted his **teeth** under an angry smile as he thought, "Heheh... well, that's no good... I can't even begin to solve or understand a single problem..."

Batsu looked up at the clock, which showed that twelve minutes has passed. Having four answers completed, he then stopped and closed his eyes. It was then he began to try and process a possibility on the test's difficulty.

"Even though there are only nine questions on the paper, there are ten questions in all. And we're given an hour, which is sixty minutes total. So, divide sixty by ten and you get six. That means if a candidate wants to complete the test, they can only take a maximum total of six minutes per question," he pondered as he looked at the questions, "But the problem that lies within as that because the questions become more difficult, it takes more time to figure out. So, in the end, after number four, it takes longer than six minutes to solve a question... why would they do this? To test the most brilliant takers? Surely, they must know that the average candidate would have complications in solving these..."

"RRRRGH! Come on! How the hell am I supposed to solve these!?" King ranted in his head as he gritted his teeth, "What, are they wanting everyone to be as intelligent as an Alakazam!?"

Sasuke slowly stroked his head fur with a paw as he closed his eyes, thinking, "I need a high score if we're gonna pass this exam. This is so hard... I'm s-somehow tempted to... no, no! I can't do that! Cheating is against the rules! Uugh, it's like they're trying to get us to cheat on this test... I just hope none of the others fall for it," as he looked up at us.

"No, no way," he thought, "they would never fall for something like this... Not even my brothers would think of cheating... I hope..."

I slowly put down my pencil and closed my eyes in frustration. Wow, did I feel stupid. None of these questions seemed to make a lick of sense to me. Even after reading them and thinking them over, I didn't even answer one yet. Man, this was harder than I thought... 'There has to be some way I can pass this' was the sentence that kept repeating over and over again. At times like that, it made me wonder if going to school would've been the be- ! What am I saying!? That's agreeing with that snobby Mr. Pepperridge! Oh, heck no! I'm figuring out one of these problems!

While I fumed on having that teacher have the last laugh by subjecting me to this test, King closed his eyes and thought, "Okay, don't panic, King. You need to stay calm and realize there's only one thing to do..."

He opened his eyes, which showed a panicked face, as he screamed in his head, "YOU JUST HAVE TO CHEAT AND NOT GET CAUGHT!"

It was then Tony decided to pace up front a bit and actually looked near King's location. He smirked evilly as the Charmeleon gasped. He punched himself on the top of the head in a manner no one could see him as he grunted and shook his head.

"Yeah, right, and risk getting all our butts thrown out on my tail!? Not a chance!" King thought.

Batsu slowly gave a glance at Sasuke. My brother looked at him with a bit of a smirk as he nodded without anyone seeing. It was then that Batsu closed his eyes, pretending to focus on the test, and then used telepathy to link all six of our minds together. I suddenly heard a voice in my head make me jerk up a bit, but then calm me down.

"Everyone, do not call attention to yourselves. This is Batsu using telepathy. You can talk with each other now by just thinking," I heard him speak.

"So, I'm guessing you all are also having problems with this test?" I heard Zev say.

I sighed as I said, "Yeah, tell me about it. I haven't even gotten one answered."

"I've only got three," Naruto said, grunting.

"...Two for me," King said embarrassingly.

"Two here," Zev said.

"And Batsu and I only have four done," Sasuke said, as he rubbed his temples on his head, "This is going to be harder than I thought..."

"Yeah, and it doesn't help that you have somebody like the sentinels watching every move and slip-up you pull and-" Zev groaned as he rolled his eyes and tried not to look at the one sitting right next to him, and then saying, "Well, somebody just got nailed near my side."

"Well, that's what you get for cheating..." King said, taking a deep annoyed breath.

"But don't you think it's strange?" I asked pondering a bit.

All of them blinked as Sasuke asked, "What is it, Thomas?"

"Well, it's just strange that they make more of a fuss about cheating than the actual test itself..." I said, rubbing my head.

"Yeah, that doesn't make sense!" Naruto said, rubbing his paw from holding the pencil.

"And what also doesn't make sense is about the sentinels too. Why is it that only two points are deducted from every incident of cheating?" Sasuke said, "Normally, if someone is caught cheating once, it's an automatic zero and grounds for dismissal right there..."

Suddenly, Batsu gasped and made all of us jump a bit in excitement as he thought, "Wait! That's it!"

-


	76. Chapter 76

Batsu slowly nodded and said, "Yeah, that's got to be it. That has to be the reason this test is completely out there."

"Hm? What did you figure something out, Batsu?" Sasuke said.

"Yes, this is more than just the test itself," the Riolu stated, "The test just doesn't test our knowledge of the rescue team basics and tactics, but our ability to gather information."

…...Oh, wow... I never would've guessed it. That's completely amazing how clever the test was constructed as I shook my head at it. I heard more about as I listened to Zev speak.

"Yeah, that explains it... the "eagle-eyed" sentinels everywhere, these extremely challenging questions, and the fact that only two points are deducted from each caught glance of cheating. That's very clever..." he said.

"I see now... Tony himself said 'Sometimes, you must see through deception and find the true meaning.' He's not forbidding us to cheat; he's expecting us to. He wants us to try and cheat and not get caught," Sasuke said.

"Only a handful of exceptional teams could be able to gather information on a mission under extreme and strict circumstances, and that's exactly what Tony is looking for," Batsu added, looking around at the competition.

"This makes me wonder if any of the others teams have figured this out," King said, **fiddling** with his pencil.

"But this means, if the whole point of the test is to gather information, there's a major question: Who's got all the answers?" Zev asked as all of us began to look around for anything.

"I'm pretty much at a disadvantage here, then..." I said, scratching my head, "I'm way too far up near Tony and where I have really no tools to **find answers**."

"I also got the same problem as the pipsqueak. Not to mention, since we're in front, that decreases the odds of us getting a good shot at**finding someone** who's got all the info," King added.

"How about we stay linked with Batsu's telepathy and when one of us finds an answer, we right it down?" Naruto suggested.

"Dork, that's the dumb... wait a minute, that's probably one of the best ideas we got right now," King corrected himself as he blinked.

"Maybe you should think more before you say something," Naruto teased as he heard a growl come from his taunted victim.

"That's a good idea. When we find the answers, we can just share our answers until the test gets to its final questions," Sasuke said.

"Okay, go ahead and read them, Batsu," I said, "We're ready to write them down."

"Very well then. Everyone, these are the answers for the first four questions," Batsu then began to read, "The first answer is Arcanine because..."

So for the next, oh I don't know, ten minutes, we continued to write down the answers and thus I was happy with four answered questions. I looked at the friends sitting next to me and it seemed that they had gotten the secret meaning to the tests. It seemed that somewhere in the room, Austin had gotten the idea, because I could tell that Alyssa was writing down answers in a fast mannered pace. Zoey though, I guess was just incredibly smart. She had already FINISHED THE TEST. Like DONE. Every question on the paper was answered and all she did was sit patiently for the rest of the time to be done. And Holt, God bless him, had answered at least three and then just did little drawings on his paper until the time was over. I kept my eyes on my paper, as suddenly I heard a voice that made me jump a bit.

"Number 30! You're out!" a female Pidgeotto said.

The female Flareon that was sitting next to Holt jerked her head up in horror as she looked over at the **sentinel**.

"W-wait, what?" she asked as I could tell she become regrettful.

"I'm sorry, but I caught you five times," she said, "That means your team is also disqualified."

"That means number 101 and number 66, you're out too," I heard a male voice say.

It was kind of startling to see that someone was that close to me when they were eliminated. The Flareon slowly arose from her seat and then proceeded to walk down towards the door, where soon her teammates followed, and left together. But the eliminations didn't stop there. They only began.

"Number 1, fail!"

"Number 122 and 79, you're gone!"

"Number 89, leave."

"Number 92 and number 23, go."

And the list kept going on and on and on. Seriously, for about several minutes, eliminations kept being read off and multiple teams started to leave the room. Some of the teams had to be escorted because they tried to argue that they didn't cheat, while others even teared up and cried at failing. Man, that was nerve rattling. To see more and more people be dismissed for cheating really makes you value the meaning of "fair". I finished writing our answers done as we talked telepathically again.

"All right, so how do we get the other five answers?" Naruto said.

"Sasuke, Batsu, you got any clue?" I asked.

"As much as it boggles my mind to say it, but no, I have no clue about the others," Batsu said as he looked at his test paper.

"Neither can I," Sasuke scratched his head confusedly, "So, we need to find a way to get the last five answers..."

Zev sighed as he rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the whole test. He suddenly blinked surprised as his eyes slowly looked up at the ceiling. He slowly smiled as he got his pencil ready.

"Guys, look above on the ceiling," he said.

We all then looked up at the ceiling. Oh, my word! That was perfect! The ceiling's light casing was metallic and you could basically look up and see a bit of reflection of whatever is in front of you. And I could see the answer of question five in front of me. I secretely pretending to stretch my neck and back a bit as I glanced up and memorized the answer. I then wrote it down as Zev began to explain that, and the answer to question six, seven, and eight. We all wrote them down and then felt pretty confident with having these many answers down. But we had one more; the second hardest of the test.

"Okay, the ninth question... wow... this is the hardest written question here," King said, as he groaned.

I happened to take a look at the question and... Oh my freaking gosh... this was the EASIEST question to me. I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Okay, here was the ninth question...

"In the legend of humans, humans that would travel the world with Pokémon were called trainers. However, the trainers could start off in five different regions of the human world. Name in order the list of regions that were discovered."

Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. There! Holy freaking crap, that was the hardest ninth question of the test? UUURGH! This is driving me insane. It's like this world is testing me to blow my cover as a human. I mean, I knew the answer, but for me to just say what it is, would blow the alibi away. I gritted my teeth and fidgeted my fists in a humorous way as Batsu then did something that made me calm.

"Don't worry... I'm using my ability to see aura to look through the candidate in front of me. The answers are in order..." he said, as he read off the answers in order for everyone else to write down (I had already taken the liberty of finishing it myself).

We all put our **pencils** down and relaxed a bit. No sentinel wrote us up or called us out, so it looked like we would make it out just fine. The test seemed much more easy now that the test paper I had was filled. It was surprising how this felt to finish a test. I don't know how to really describe it, but I felt so relieved and light after it was finished. But now that all the questions were all done, it all came down to the final twelve minutes.

"All right, we're coming up close to the tenth question," Sasuke said.

"This means that there's no ability to cheat off of this question," Naruto said, sighing a bit.

"It all comes down to the tenth question; whatever it is, it's what determines whether we fail or pass," Batsu stated.

I looked up at the clock and watched it count down, as I stared at it with anxiety and said, "Everything rides on that!"

-


	77. Chapter 77

Soon, the clock had hit the final ten minutes of the test, and Tony then knocked on the chalkboard to get our attention. All of us looked up to see a serious look on his face as he began to speak up and Batsu disconnected the telepathic link we had.

"All right, listen up closely. It's time for the tenth question," Tony said as he folded his arms as he grinned.

Okay, this is it; the final obstacle. After this, there is only one more stage of the exam and then we'd pass. I could feel my heart beat as the adrenaline went through my body. I got excited as I looked on at Tony. I was ready. I felt cold, yet I was ready.

"But... before I can give you the final question," he said as he looked around the room at all of the candidates, "There are a few more rules you need to know before I give it. These rules are unique to it, so listen carefully."

Wait, what? There were MORE rules to this test already? And only for one question? Geesume crow, how difficult is this one question supposed to be? I scoffed silently in frustration and confusion as he nodded to the sentinels. Watching him carefully, he began to speak the rules.

"All right, rule number one. Each of you are free to choose whether or not you wish to answer the tenth question," he said.

Everyone gasped as Sasuke jerked his head up and pondered, "Wait, what...? We're free to choose whether to answer or not?"

"Whoa, hold on!" I jerked my head up to see in front of me that a male Machoke said, "So, what's the catch!? Suppose we don't wanna take the tenth question! What happens then?"

"If you choose to skip the tenth question, regardless of how many answers you put down and/or how many you answered wrong to the other nine, you'll be given a zero. In return, the whole team will be given a zero and thus will fail the exam," Tony said.

Everyone immediately started to talk amongst themselves, saying things like "What? Then there's no other choice. Of course we'll take it!", "You think we'll fall for a stupid choice like that?", and "How can he just ask us such an easy choice like that?" I knew immediately that there was something there that made purposely not answering the question a possible GOOD choice. Tony then began to speak, as he then closed his eyes.

"Hold it, be quiet. You didn't let me finish," he said.

King grunted as he groaned in his mind, "For crying out loud, MORE RULES!? Enough already, just let us take this stupid test!"

"If you choose to do the final question, but if you or any of your teammates answers it incorrectly..." Tony said as he raised his head and said with the darkest looking face ever, "YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TAKE THESE EXAMS AGAIN AND EVER BE A RESCUE TEAM!"

My eyes widened at that. Is he freaking serious!? One wrong answer on one question will prevent you from EVER becoming a rescue team at all?!

A male Monferno stood up out of his seat and pointed his finger at Tony as he proceeded to yell, "Hey, man, that's freaking cheap Grimer crap! What kind of bogus rule is that? There's a lot of candidates here who've taken the test before! So, why are you making it so we can never have a chance again?"

(I have no idea why... but suddenly I was reminded of Tucker... XD)

Tony slowly chuckled as he closed his eyes. Soon, his chuckling came into downright laughing. It wasn't creepy laughter, but it sent chills up your spine how so easy-going he was at this rule. It sorta made you feel he had bad intentions up his sleeve. He smiled at the Monferno as he grinned.

"I guess you're just unlucky this particular year," he said, "I'm not the one who made the rules before, but this year, I am now. Of course," he said, becoming more optimistic feeling and cheerful looking, "if you don't feel up to the challenge and wanna take the exams, that's perfectly fine."

The Monferno was a bit taken back at this as Tony said in a calm voice, "By all means, if you're not confident enough to take the challenge, you're allowed to decline the question and fail. Even by failing, you're guaranteed to be able to take the exams again next year. So, those are your two choices right now as we speak: Either take the question and risk never be able to go for the exams again if wrong, or back out now and have another try next year. Your choice."

Wow... this was incredibly difficult... either give up now or risk never going at it again... I mean, I didn't want to be a burden, so I was definitely going to go for it. Yet, the back of my mind kept saying that I would be the biggest failure if I messed up. And also, what were the other five thinking? Were any of them going to give up? Man, this was so hard...

-

Meanwhile, while Thomas and Team Believers were being told the rules to Question Ten, you could feel the tension of the square, wondering who would be going home and who would still be in the exam. But despite that it was this sudden and scary of the unknown, Elek seemed to take it rather easy. He was sitting on a bench near the south side of the square's middle with Machoke and Arcanine, talking.

"Wow... it's rather quiet without those young people running around with excitement for missions," he said, relaxing on the bench.

"I sort of miss that feeling of seeing youth always ready for the next chapter of adventure to loom in their path," Arcanine said, feeling the breeze on his fur.

"Oh, you might be getting ready soon to see them come back," Machoke said, grinning, "The second stage proctor is a pretty tough one at that this year."

"Oh? I didn't get to hear who was chosen. Who is it?" Elek said.

"It's Tony, from the interrogation division," he was answered.

The Blaziken closed his eyes with a serious look on his face and pondered, "Tony... so they put him in charge this year... Already, the teams' percent of passing are shaking rapidly and unstably..."

Elek sighed and rolled his blind eyes as he groaned, "Wonderful, they put the cheerful-go-lucky-guy who can turn into a sadist anytime he wants to as a proctor? What in the world are they thinking?"

"Hmm? Am I missing something? What do you mean?" Arcanine asked, baffled by the reponse.

"Oh, that's right. Your team recently was moved here and only became part of the five strongest teams of the Rescue Team foundation two months ago, so you don't know much about certain specific members of the organization," Machoke said, looking at him.

Arcanine slowly blushed in a bit of embarrassment as he cleared his throat and said, "Okay, so I'm new and a bit naïve. Who is he?"

"Tony is a part of the interrogation tactics division in the Pokémon Square area and one of the highest interrogators of the Rescue Team foundation," Elek explained, "But he's sort of what you call a 'specialist' at his job."

"A specialist?" Arcanine asked looking at them.

"Yes, at not only interrogation, but torture," Machoke said, as it caught the captain of Team Tactics a bit shocked and off guard, "Of course, he won't use physical torture to the candidates; he'd never harm innocent people, but it's more of he won't need to. Despite him being a professional at it, that's not really his thing. He likes to get into people's minds, making you doubt yourself and choosing what he wants you to choose. He's famous for it."

"It's why when most criminals immediately cooperate with the interrogation tactics division if they learn that Tony will take part," Elek explained, "He's that deadly, that they beg for him not to do anything. Only the stupidest and sickly tough scumbags are the only ones who are DEAD WRONG, thinking they can handle it."

"Geez, he sounds completely horrible," Arcanine said, whimpering a bit.

"Oh, no, he's actually one of the most cheerful and optimistic friends you'll ever have, as long as he's not on duty," Machoke said with a smile, "He really loves being friends with people more. You should hang out with him when he's not working."

"I see... I will. Thank you," Arcanine said, nodding.

"Well," Machoke said, standing up, "It's only a matter of time before the last stage of the exam is set into place. I need to go prepare for it and get ready."

Elek stood up and sighed, "Which means I need to get ready, considering if my team passes, I'm gonna be involved."

"Oh, right, you're going to be playing that role during the final stage," Arcanine said with a smile.

"Yes, so we'll be seeing you later, Arcanine. I can't wait for my stage to start," Machoke said with a grin as he headed towards the pond.

-

I watched Tony cleared his throat after everything quieted down and nodded to the sentinels. All of them, including Zeke, got their clipboards and pencils ready. He then called out in a loud voice:

"All right, listen up, maggots! Those who don't want to take the tenth question, raise your arm in the air. The sentinels will record your number and then you're free to go."

I suddenly saw several candidates stand up behind me as I looked around the room. Multiple Pokémon starting raising their hands and then the sentinels began reading off numbers. Masses of teams then began to leave the room as the room kept getting more roomy and spaced out. But it I wondered if any of the team would at all raise their hands. That's when my answers were replied to as Batsu connected us one again.

"Okay, you guys, this is it," Sasuke said to us through telepathy, "No backing out... we do this together. No matter whether we lose this or keep going, we know we did our best."

"That's right! We're gonna do our best and be proud of it!" Naruto happily chimed in.

"It'll be a pain if we end up losing, but I'll live knowing we went out like men," King said, agreeing.

"Okay, let's do it," Batsu replied.

"I'm ready to do this question," I said, smiling.

"Let's get this thing over with already," Zev groaned but said with a smirk.

When the connection was cut, it was when seven of the final ten minutes went by that Tony looked around and saw that nobody else was going to quit. Tony looked around and nodded to the sentinels, who seemed to relax. He then turned to us and closed his eyes.

"I don't see any of you wavering, so I guess that's it. Very well, now that all the cautious ones are taken out of the picture, I can see the determined ones sitting before me. With that, there's only one more thing I can say," he spoke.

I made the grip of my hands tighten with anxiety and anticipation. No matter how difficult it was or how tiresome it may be, I was ready for it. So, you could bring it, Tony. No matter what you throw at Team Believers, we'll come right out on top!

Tony then lost his creepy attitude and turned back into the cheerful relaxed true self as he grinned and said, "And that is for me to tell you all that you've passed the second stage of the exams!"

…..WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?

-


	78. Authors Note: Wattpad

If you like reading pokemon fanfiction, then go on my account on and read as much as you like! There is a link to my account on my bio! My account name on WattPad is LucarioMaster41


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